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Spotlight On...
Congress is currently considering reauthorization legislation. The House Financial Services Committee is now working on the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act along with an amendment. The amended bill would provide prevention and rehousing for people in precarious housing situations, increase resources for rapid rehousing for homeless families, and simplify the funding process for rural areas.
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Hill Update
Senate Holds Hearing on Homeless Veterans
Last Thursday, May 1, the Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee and the Military Constructions-Veterans Affairs Subcommittee held a joint hearing entitled, "Housing Our Heroes, Addressing the Issue of Homeless Veterans in America." The Committees heard testimony from Steve Berg, Vice President for Programs and Policy for the Alliance; Mark Johnston, Deputy Assistance Secretary for Special Needs Programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Pete Dougherty, Director of Homeless Veterans Programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs; and several other witnesses. All witnesses highlighted programs that serve homeless veterans and those at risk of homelessness and discussed the importance of taking these programs to scale. In particular, a number of witnesses focused on the HUD-VA Supportive Housing program, which received a $75 million increase in fiscal year 2008 appropriations.
House Committee Passes Foreclosure Legislation
On May 1, the House Financial Services Committee passed H.R. 5830, the FHA Housing and Homeowner Retention Act. The bill, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the Chair of the Committee, would modify the Federal Housing Administration in order to make it easier for borrowers to refinance their mortgages by providing up to $300 billion in outstanding loan guarantees. Also, the bill would authorize $210 million for foreclosure counseling.
H.R. 5830 is expected to be attached to a larger housing stimulus package, H.R. 3221, which passed the Senate in April. H.R. 3221 may be considered by the full House this week. Also, the full House may consider H.R. 5818, the Neighborhood Stabilization Act of 2008, which was introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and would provide $7.5 billion in loans and another $7.5 billion in grants to states to purchase foreclosed properties for home ownership and rental housing. Half of the grants would be used for rental housing for very low income households and half of that amount for extremely low income households.
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Grand Rally
On Wednesday, May 7, at the U.S. Capitol, AARP, Child Welfare League of America, Children's Defense Fund, Generations United, GrandFamilies of America, and the National Committee of Grandparents for Children's Rights are co-sponsoring the Third National GrandRally for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children. The event highlights the important role grandparents and other relatives play in raising children and the help they need from family, friends, their communities, states, national organizations, and agencies and elected officials.
USA Today published an article highlighting how a rise in attacks against homeless people in 2007 has led many states to consider harsher penalties for perpetrators. "Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA 2007," released last week by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, shows that attacks have increased from 142 in 2006 to 160 in 2007. Twenty-eight of the attacks in 2007 were murders. So far, Maine is the only state that has passed tougher penalties that allow judges to consider the victim's status as a homeless person as a reason to impose longer sentences. Legislation to increase penalties is pending in Ohio, Massachusetts, and Alaska. Congress is also considering two bills to address this issue: one that would require the FBI to track attacks on homeless people and another that would protect them under federal hate crime laws.
Florida's Associated Press also highlighted the trend of increased violence against homeless people. In 2007, Florida led the nation in attacks against homeless people, with 31 incidents recorded, according to the study "Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA 2007." 2007 is the third consecutive year that Florida has topped the list, with 32 attacks reported in the state in 2005 and 48 in 2006. Maria Foscarinis, the Executive Director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, speculated that the criminalization of homelessness, including bans on sleeping in certain places and on food assistance, may be promoting the message that homeless people are sub-human and contributing to the increases in attacks in Florida.
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