Wanda Witter, 80-year-old homeless woman, paid $100K in owed Social Security

An 80-year-old former homeless woman is settling into her new apartment after receiving a $100,000 payout from the federal government.

Wanda Witter, who spent the last 20 years living on the streets, said she’s been embroiled in a 16-year fight with the Social Security Administration.

Ms. Witter, a trained paralegal, said she moved to Washington D.C. in 1996 and ended up homeless after failing to find work, a local ABC News affiliate reported.

When she started receiving Social Security checks, she disputed the amounts because she said they were incorrect. She said she was routinely given the runaround, and eventually the checks stopped coming because she didn’t have a fixed address.

For years, Ms. Witter slept on the concrete at 13th and G Streets NW, surrounded by three suitcases filled with Social Security documents and research, The Washington Post reported.

It wasn’t until she found social worker Julie Turner, who finally listened to Ms. Witter’s plight, that things turned around.

“I know I’m entitled to this, and somebody is screwing me here,” Ms. Witter told ABC.

She then met with attorney Daniela de la Piedra, who handles many Social Security disputes for the Legal Counsel for the Elderly, which is affiliated with the AARP, The Post reported.

“On Friday [August] 19th, the check for $99,999 was deposited into her bank account,” Ms. Piedrea told ABC.

Ms. Witter moved into a new apartment last week with an air mattress she described as “luxurious.” Next, she plans on fixing her teeth so she can smile “without looking like an old hag,” she told The Post.

“I can’t imagine how to handle $100,000. I have never had that kind of money in my life,” she said.

The $99,999 payment was the most that Social Security could make as a lump sum without an extended approval process. More is coming, her lawyer told The Post.