Fact Sheet: How Much Does the Federal Government Spend on Homelessness?

Date: 17 Oct 2006

Author: National Alliance to End Homelessness

Files:

Answering the question about how much the federal government spends on homelessness should be as simple as summing the total expenditures for homeless assistance programs. Homeless programs, however, do not fit neatly into one federal agency; instead they are spread across several, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Education (ED), and the Department of Labor (DOL). These federal agencies administer programs that are dedicated to serving homeless people—meaning that the goals and eligibility requirements target homeless people—and mainstream programs that serve homeless people as well as other low-income people, for example, Medicaid, TANF, or mainstream housing and community development programs (Section 8, public housing, CDBG, HOME). This fact sheet focuses on how much is spent on dedicated homeless assistance programs and—because housing is critical to ending homelessness—examines trends in HUD funding for low-income housing programs.

In 2006, the federal government spent $1.928 billion dollars on dedicated homelessness programs. Since 2001, McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance funding has been increasing slightly, with a dip in 2005. In 2001, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grant was funded at $1.286 billion; by 2006 it had increased slightly to $1.327 (after adjusting for inflation). Other major programs for homelessness programs include Health Care for the Homeless (HHS) and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (DHS).