Legislative Update: HUD Definition of Homelessness

BACKGROUND:

The "Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (HEARTH)," H.R. 840, reauthorizes the McKinney-Vento Act’s HUD Homeless Assistance Programs. H.R. 840 provides greater decision making at the local level and more closely aligns the HUD definition of homelessness with other federal agency definitions (including the U.S. Department of Education).

In contrast, the Senate bill, S. 1518, the Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act (CPEHA), contains a complex, restrictive definition of homelessness that requires those who are doubled-up or in motels to make multiple moves in order to gain eligibility and codifies permanent housing set-asides that deny communities the ability to meet the needs of all homeless populations that they identify.


UPDATE:

Two new documents are now available regarding the HUD McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act reauthorization. Please find attached:

1. A "Fact Check" on the HUD definition of homelessness. This document sets the record straight on the effort to update HUD definition of homelessness.

2. An organizational sign-on letter of more than 40 child and youth organizations supporting an updated HUD definition of homelessness.

NPACH Alert: Support the HEARTH Act - House Hearings Held, New Materials Available

Yesterday, the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the House Financial Services Committee held its second hearing on reauthorization of the HUD McKinney-Vento Act Homeless Assistance Grant Programs.

Four new documents are now available regarding the HUD McKinney-Vento Act reauthorization:

1. NPACH testimony from the October 4 McKinney-Vento reauthorization hearing.

2. A "Fact Check" on the HUD definition of homelessness. This document sets the record straight on the effort to update HUD's definition of homelessness.

3. A "Fact Check" on HUD funding and the "chronic homelessness initiative" that clarifies key points in the debate.

4. An organizational sign-on letter from 44 child and youth organizations supporting an updated HUD definition of homelessness.

These materials, along with a brief comment on the hearing, are available at the NPACH website, at: www.npach.org

ACTION NEEDED:

Please ask the House to take action on the HEARTH Act, H.R. 840. To find out if your Member of Congress has signed on to H.R. 840, visit: H.R.840


If your Representative is a co-sponsor, please call their office to thank them, and ask that they urge House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and Housing Subcommittee Chairwoman Maxine Waters to pass the HEARTH Act and bring it to the House floor.

If your Representative is not a co-sponsor, please ask them to become one - the more co-sponsors we have, the more likely it is that HEARTH will move forward. Contact information for all House Members is available at http://www.house.gov If your Representative is interested in co-sponsoring HEARTH, they should notify Kathleen Taylor in the office of Representative Julia Carson or Lauren O’Brien in the office of Representative Geoff Davis.

For more information, visit http://www.naehcy.org/update.html