Homelessness: Recent Statistics, 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 and 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.Existing data estimate the homeless population in the United States as ranging from 600,000 to 2.5 million.A congressionally mandated Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to count the homeless is expected to produce annual data about the number of homeless individuals beginning in late 2005.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 Program (EFSP); 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 ten years, and several proposals designed to help reach that goal have been introduced in the 109 th Congress.This report will be updated to reflect legislative activity.