Homelessness: Targeted Federal Programs and Recent Legislation

There is no single federal definition of homelessness.However, most federal programs for the homeless define a homeless individual as a person who lacks a fixed night-time residence or whose primary residence is a supervised public or private shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations, an institution accommodating persons intended to be institutionalized, or a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.The most recent count of the homeless, from 1996, found that between 2.3 million and 3.5 million individuals were homeless at any given time during the year.A congressionally mandated Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to count the homeless is expected to produce annual data about the number of homeless individuals sometime in 2006.A number of federal programs, most authorized by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (P.L. 100-77), serve the homeless.The main federal programs for the homeless include the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program; the Emergency Food and Shelter (EFS) program; the Health Care for the Homeless Program (HCH); the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program; the Consolidated Runaway and Homeless Youth programs (the Basic Center Program and the Transitional Living Program); the Street Outreach Program (SOP); the Supportive Housing Program (SHP); the Shelter Plus Care (S+C) program; the Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation of Single-Room Occupancy Dwellings (SRO) program; the Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program; the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP); the Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) program; and a number of other federal programs for homeless veterans.Looking toward the future, the Administration has adopted a goal of ending chronic homelessness within 10 years, and several proposals that would assist in reaching that goal have been introduced in the 109 th Congress.These include H.R. 1471/S.709, the Services for Ending Long-Term Homelessness Act, H.R. 5041 and S. 1801, both of which would reauthorize the HUD Homeless Assistance Grants, and H.R. 4347, the Bringing America Home Act.In addition, a number of bills have been introduced that would specifically assist homeless veterans.One that has already been signed into law (P.L. 109-233) reauthorizes the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program.Others include S. 2694, which would reauthorize programs for homeless veterans and make housing choice vouchers available for veterans; and S. 1180, S. 1182, and H.R. 5960, all of which would reauthorize the Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program.This report will be updated to reflect legislative activity.