Please note: Starting January 2, 2008 we will begin using income guidelines to determine eligibility.
The Special Assistance Program is comprised of four separate sections that help senior and disabled residents by providing services that afford the highest level of personal independence through effective use of resources. These programs include the Senior Assistance Program, the Prescription Medicine Aide Program, the Representative Payee Program, and the Adults With Disabilities Program. The Special Assistance Program also includes the Bereavement Program, which involves burial services for the indigent of Harris County.
Senior Assistance
The Senior Assistance Program helps residents 60 years of age and older by providing emergency financial assistance. Seniors who qualify for this program can receive assistance with utility bills, rental or mortgage assistance, case management, and information and referral assistance.
Adults with Disabilities
The Adults with Disabilities program addresses the multiple needs of Harris County residents who are living with the effects of HIV/AIDS. This program provides assistance with services that foster independence through housing, employment readiness, maintenance of a healthy environment and client self-sufficiency.
Bereavement Services
The Bereavement Services program insures that every indigent citizen of Harris County without adequate resources receives a simple but dignified burial. The Texas constitution requires counties to bury or cremate the indigent. This program, which provides this service of last resort, will work with families either to arrange a county burial or with referral services to obtain low-cost funeral services.
Prescription Medicine Aid
The Prescription Medicine Aid Program assists senior and disabled clients with prescription drugs that they would otherwise go without due to the excessive costs of some medications. This program assists clients to obtain free or low cost medications through various patient assistance programs offered by pharmaceutical companies.
Requirements for eligibility
Items to bring to your appointment
Preliminary application *
* You may print and fill out the preliminary application and bring it with you to your interview. This may save you some time but it in no
way constitutes or implies that you have been interviewed and will be seen or approved for any assistance from Office of Social
Services, a division of HCCSD.All persons who seek assistance from HCCSD must be interviewed in person. Assistance is dependent on
available funding and different program guidelines.