SOAR: SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery

The Impact of SOAR

SOAR equips case workers with tools and training to give Social Security Administration (SSA) Claims Specialists and Disability Determination Services (DDS) Disability Examiners exactly what they need to review disability applications, reducing workload, preventing denials, and speeding access to benefits. As a result, the national approval rate for SOAR-assisted initial applications is 65%—more than double the national average for unassisted applications (31%). The approval rate for the Top 10 SOAR states is even higher, at 78%. When case workers use SOAR’s critical components, SOAR works, and lives are transformed.

Beyond approval rates and time savings, the impact of SOAR is most felt financially—by bringing life-stabilizing income to eligible applicants experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The effects of this income ripple beyond the individual, through increased Medicaid reimbursements and housing payments and fewer expenditures by homeless service providers, emergency health care systems, and correctional settings. In fiscal year 2024, the SOAR model brought over $774 million into the economies of participating localities. Medicaid providers received an average of $16,603 in Medicaid reimbursements per approved applicant, and beneficiaries received an average of $10,923 in back payments. SOAR stabilizes lives, saves agencies money, and makes communities stronger and healthier.

History of SOAR

SOAR has its roots in an SSA-funded demonstration project that started in Baltimore in 1993 and continues today. Initially directed by psychiatric social worker Yvonne Perret, her team developed tools and strategies for assisting people with mental illness who were experiencing homelessness to apply for SSA disability programs. Beginning in 2001, with the support of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Ms. Perret and Deborah Dennis, with Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA), developed SAMHSA’s  Stepping Stones to Recovery  manual and training curriculum. In 2014, PRA further developed this curriculum into the SOAR Online Course, used to train 30,000+ SOAR practitioners nationwide.

In 2005, with funding provided by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), states participating in the Federal Interagency Policy Academies on Homelessness were invited to apply for SOAR technical assistance, and the first 14 states were selected. In the following two years, 20 additional states applied and were selected to receive technical assistance that included infrastructure and systems change planning, train-the-trainer programs, onsite training, and ongoing technical assistance.

In September 2009, SAMHSA awarded a five-year contract for the SOAR Technical Assistance (TA) Center to PRA, which was renewed in 2014, 2019, and 2024. Federal support for the SOAR TA Center ended in 2025. Throughout its tenure, the SOAR TA Center worked with all 50 states to develop and refine action plans for implementing and expanding SOAR programs in communities nationwide. TA, regional and state calls, webinars, a monthly newsletter, an interactive website, two online courses, and an online outcome tracking program brought together SOAR stakeholders, community partners, and practitioners to share successes, challenges, and ideas for development, expansion, and change.

SOAR Resources

SOAR Articles

While the SOAR Technical Assistance Center has closed, Policy Research Associates’ commitment to the SOAR model endures. We have made key resources, such as issue briefs, fact sheets, and articles, available to the SOAR community in perpetuity to ensure that SOAR practitioners can access the resources they need most. In the coming months, Policy Research will work with leaders to offer technical assistance opportunities to interested states and communities.

We are deeply grateful to the thousands of SOAR-trained practitioners and state and local leaders who have sustained this work and transformed countless lives. Together, we remain committed to empowering communities to implement the SOAR model so that eligible applicants can receive the benefits they deserve.