Obama Phone

Helping Americans with free Lifeline cell phones

  • Home
  • What?
  • Eligibility
  • Get one
  • Providers
  • States
  • FAQ
  • History
  • News
  • Contact

I’m homeless. Can I get an Obama Phone?

April 20, 2016 | | Filed Under: General, Programs Tagged With: homelessness

We receive many comments from low-income Americans who fall through the cracks in the Obama Phone regulations. In other words, they qualify for the program because they are low-income, but don’t qualify for the program because they find themselves in one of several “homeless” situations.

Luckily, there are solutions to that problem.

Several years ago, the Federal Communications Commission relaxed its rules so that Obama Phone companies “…must obtain that consumer’s permanent residential address, unless they only have a temporary address.”

In other words, temporary residents of homeless shelters, women’s shelters, veterans shelters and any other multi-family address, who had heretofore been ineligible for the Obama Phone program, can now qualify by using the address of the shelter in which they live. NOTE: While other Obama Phone customers must verify their address and eligibility once per year, residents of temporary shelters are required to verify their temporary residence address quarterly.)

Obama Phone regulations state that only one free cell phone is allowed per residence. But the government has recognized the folly in that rule at a time when economic conditions commonly require multiple families to share one residence. The Federal Communications Commission addressed that problem by saying, “… [R]ecognizing that there are instances where multiple households (i.e., families) reside at the same address we implement procedures to enable applicants in such circumstances to demonstrate at enrollment that other Lifeline recipients residing at the same address are a separate household.”

Some Obama Phone companies now specifically address the homeless shelter issue on their websites. For example, the Assurance Wireless website now says, “Separate households that live at the same address are eligible, including residents of homeless shelters and nursing homes. Residents with temporary addresses are also eligible. A household is define as any individual or group of individuals who live together at the same address and share income and expenses.”

That leaves one remaining group of homeless individuals who are still not eligible for an Obama Phone — those who are homeless, but use a Post Office Box to receive mail.

Unfortunately, the FCC fears that allowing a post office box to qualify as a home address opens the program up to too much potential fraud.

In fact, the Commission addressed this very question by saying, “We are concerned that some subscribers could list a P.O. Box as their address in an effort to avoid complying with our one-per-household requirement.”

So, unfortunately, the answer is no, you will not be eligible for an Obama Phone if you list a PO Box as your home address.

Do not blame your Obama Phone company. They have no choice but to reject your application because to do otherwise would be a violation of the rules and could subject them to major monetary fines.

We have heard that one way around the prohibition of post office boxes is to find a friend or relative who will allow you to use their address. However, even this is a violation of the regulations, so we would never recommend it.

Important Pages

  • A guide to Obama Phone providers in your state
  • Obama Phone News & Updates
  • What is the Obama Phone?
  • Who qualifies for an Obama Phone?
    • Tribal Head Start
    • Veterans Pension and Survivors Pension Eligibility for an Obama Phone
  • How to Get an Obama Phone?
  • Obamaphone Providers
  • Who Started the Obama Phone?
  • Lifeline Facts
  • Obama Phone FAQs
  • Discussion Forum / Q&A

Subsidized Internet Too

The FCC has also encouraged major internet providers to provide high-speed broadband to the very same people that qualify for the Obama Phone. Only $9.95 a month. There are cheap internet plans for both cable and DSL. To learn more please go to CheapInternet.com.

Recent News

  • Dropping like a rock: ObamaPhone enrollment falls by two million in three years
  • $7 Billion Bonanza: The new FCC Broadband Connectivity Fund
  • Sprint charges government for inactive Lifeline customers, FCC fines them $200 million for fraud
  • More than 1,000,000 have already signed up for government’s new $50 per month internet discount
  • Universal broadband for everyone who needs it! Free government cell phones for everyone who needs them! Mark Lowenstein for FCC Commissioner!
  • Could your ObamaPhone arrive with malware installed?
  • Assist Wireless exposes tens of thousands of customer IDs in five states
  • Is it the BidenPhone? Free unlimited talk, unlimited text AND unlimited data for a limited time
  • USAC’s port freeze rule eliminated, ObamaPhone customers can now switch companies at any time
  • Obama is gone, and now his enemies want to kill the Obama Phone program

Return to Top of Page
Copyright © 2023

Privacy Policy