After Years of Legislative Setbacks on Reauthorization of HUD Homelessness Programs, The Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act is Approved by the Senate Banking Committee

Date: 20 Sep 2007

Author: National Alliance to End Homelessness

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Contact: Lauren Wright
202-942-8246, lwright@naeh.org

The Senate Banking Committee approved a set of critical modernizations to the primary source of federal funding for homeless people across the U.S.

Washington, DC– For years service providers, homeless advocates, and government officials across the U.S. have recommended ways to improve HUD’s McKinney- Vento programs, the largest federally funded programs to assist the 750,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the U.S. Frequent attempts to modernize the homeless assistance program have failed. Today however, with the markup of the Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act (CPEHA), a reauthorization of the McKinney- Vento Homeless Assistance Act and a dramatic improvement for the homeless population looks more promising than ever.

The McKinney- Vento Homeless Assistance Act was originally passed in 1987 and, since then, has been the largest source of federal funding for emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and supportive services for homeless people. After years of input from practitioners, advocates, researchers and homeless people themselves, the Senate Banking Committee has approved a bill that increases flexibility and accountability, supports the hundreds of plans to end homelessness that communities around the country have developed, and implements strategies that have been proven to end homelessness for families and individuals nationwide.

The Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act of 2007 was introduced in May by Sen. Jack Reed (D- RI) and Sen. Wayne Allard (R- CO). The bill, which has received widespread bi- partisan support, maintains the best aspects of the McKinney Act while making significant improvements to the program:

• The Act consolidates the three main competitive grant programs into one, the Community Homeless Assistance Program, giving communities more flexibility and reducing complexity.
• It focuses on tangible results by rewarding communities that reduce homelessness.
• It provides funding to stabilize housing and prevent homelessness for people living doubled up, in hotels and motels, and in other precarious housing situations.
• It greatly aids rural areas by providing them with a simpler and more flexible program design and ensuring that they are better able to compete for funding.

“The reauthorization of the McKinney- Vento Homeless Assistance Act is an important step that we as a nation can take to provide communities with the tools to defeat homelessness according to their needs,” said Nan Roman, President of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, one of the many national organizations supporting the bill alongside the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Habitat for Humanity, and many others.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, mission- driven organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. The Alliance analyzes policy and develops pragmatic, cost- effective policy solutions. Working collaboratively with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build state and local capacity, the Alliance provides data and research that lead to stronger programs and policies that help communities achieve their goal of ending homelessness. For more information on The National Alliance to End Homelessness, visit: www.endhomelessness.org