Congress and Homeless Dollars

Congress Working to Renew HUD McKinney Vento Homeless Funding

(Photo by Pleasure Simmons graduate of the Grapevine Photo Class--For prints of any of the photos from the class contact NEOCH.)

BACKGROUND: HUD McKinney-Vento (HMV) programs make funds available to service providers in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the nation to provide emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent housing, and supportive services to persons experiencing homelessness. Congress has not formally reauthorized the HMV law since 1992, leaving policymaking about HUD homeless assistance programs largely to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with limited Congressional involvement. Congress is currently considering HMV reauthorization legislation. In the House, the Financial Services Committee is considering the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, H.R. 840. NCH strongly supports the introduced version of the HEARTH Act.

STATUS: The Financial Services Committee postponed a markup session for the HEARTH Act that had been set for Tuesday, July 15, 2008. While a new markup date has not been rescheduled, it is expected that the Committee will call up a substitute amendment to the introduced version of the HEARTH Act later this month or in September.

WHY ACT: The substitute amendment will reportedly contain provisions that weaken the original HEARTH Act (which NEOCH supports) in some significant areas from the standpoints of homeless consumer access and protection and community flexibility. Among them:

• Ineligible People – The amendment’s definition of “homeless individual” for purposes of eligibility for HUD programs (and other federal and state programs that use the HUD definition) fails to include some living situations understood to be homeless, meaning that people in those situations will, with rare exception, remain ineligible for HUD-funded homeless assistance.
• Weakens Community Decision-Making – The substitute amendment does not assign a role to homeless people or service providers as formal decision-makers in a geographic area’s collaborative application for funding, as did the original bill.
• Restrictions on Eligible Activities – The substitute amendment puts into the force of law restrictions on a community’s use of funds that exist now only as administrative practice … and adds some new restrictions. This step will further reduce geographic areas’ flexibility to respond to homelessness the way it makes most sense.
• Privacy Concerns – The substitute amendment authorizes a data collection and reporting system on clients of HUD-funded homeless assistance, but does not ensure client privacy and safety of their data.

ACTION NEEDED NOW: Please fax letters or make telephone calls NOW! Markup of the HEARTH Act was postponed for July 15, but could be brought up again by the Financial Services Committee at any time. Financial Services Committee members need to hear from you as soon as possible. The message to your Congress member is that we support the original HEARTH Bill as proposed by the now deceased Rep. Julia Carson, and we do not support the anticipated changes. We urge Congressional leaders to work with the National Coalition for the Homeless on a bill that would work for Cleveland.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL OR E-MAIL NEOCH AND TO REPORT ANY FEEDBACK TO NEOCH:

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.