Federal Policy Priorities
April 2013

To expand successful efforts to prevent and end homelessness in communities across the country, the Alliance is devoted to working with the Administration, Congress, and our local, state, and national partners to improve federal policies that will prevent and end homelessness.

       Top Policy Priorities for Work with Congress

Provide $2.381 billion for the Homeless Assistance Grants program within HUD in FY 2014 to:

• Continue investments in the cost-efficient interventions of homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing through the Emergency Solutions Grants program, including the expanded funds for the Emergency Solutions Grant and the high-need urban community initiative;
• Further implement the bipartisan HEARTH Act of 2009, which reauthorized these programs and increased their focus on performance-driven decisions, systems coordination, and proven solutions; and
• Cover the cost of renewing and expanding investments for permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing: proven, cost-efficient solutions to homelessness.

Increase the capacity of the federal government to prevent and end homelessness among veterans:

• Provide $1.4 billion in FY 2014 to support VA’s efforts to end veteran homelessness by 2015, including $300 million for the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program;
• Provide $75 million for new HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers in FY 2014 to house an estimated 11,000 additional chronically homeless veterans; and
• Protect and increase funding for the Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program (HVRP) within Department of Labor to ensure that veterans experiencing homelessness have access to needed training and employment services.

Increase HUD’s ability to serve and stably house low-income individuals:

• Provide $20 billion for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers in FY 2014 and pass and enact Section 8 voucher reform legislation;
• Protect key HUD programs that help families and individuals to access affordable housing; and
• Increase access to permanent, affordable housing for extremely low-income individuals and families by modernizing the Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID) and using savings to capitalize and fund the National Housing Trust Fund.

Increase the capacity of Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) programs through reauthorization and funding to:

• Expand the use of innovative and evidence-based family intervention models to support family reunification;
• Build on existing investments in programs serving runaway and homeless youth;
• Improve crisis response and early intervention approaches;
• Expand the reach and availability of transitional living programs to provide more youth with a stable housing foundation to act as a basis for achieving economic independence; and
• Expand data and research on the nature and extent of homelessness among unaccompanied youth, to improve outcomes for these vulnerable young people.

Increase the availability of services linked to housing for people experiencing homelessness:

• Protect funding in FY 2014 for the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program, and for services in supportive housing within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) administered by HHS;
• Expand the federal investment in Community Health Centers and Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) programs;
• Expand funding in FY 2014 for the Department of Justice (DOJ) Second Chance Act grant programs to prevent homelessness for people leaving corrections facilities; and
• Protect the Violence Against Women Act programs within DOJ to include a stronger focus on connecting survivors of domestic violence with permanent housing resources.

Top Policy Priorities for Work with the Administration

Implement the HEARTH Act, which reauthorizes HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants program:

• Expand investments in transition-in-place and rapid re-housing strategies through the Continuum of Care program;
• Increase the emphasis on solutions to homelessness in rural areas; and
• Improve system-level coordination in communities.

Improve knowledge about youth homelessness and its solutions:

• Advance efforts to integrate RHYMIS and HMIS data systems;
• Promote best practices for point-in-time counts that accurately capture homelessness among youth;
• Improve the ability of the child welfare system to prevent homelessness;
• Ensure sexual orientation and gender identity data is collected to improve knowledge on the causes and prevalence of homelessness for LGBTQ youth; and
• Conduct research that examines the impact of interventions on homeless youth.

Administer federal health care provisions to aggressively support programs for low-income, at-risk populations:

• Ensure adequate funding and streamlined processes to meet the health needs for homeless and at-risk populations;
• Publish timely regulations and guidance to implement sections of the Affordable Care Act that enhance capacity of programs for homeless and at-risk populations – especially Medicaid, community health centers, and mental health and substance use treatment programs; and
• Work with states to ensure that the expansion and improvement of Medicaid includes cost-effective services to get people with disabilities off the streets and stabilize them in housing.

Dramatically expand VA’s work at the local level to end homelessness among veterans:

• Implement local five-year plans to end veteran homelessness in communities that have not yet done so;
• Continue to support and inform local plans to end veteran homelessness in communities that have already implemented plans;
• Identify and work with local champions to ensure progress in plan implementation;
• Coordinate with other local homeless assistance and safety-net programs to establish a system to identify all homeless and at-risk veterans;
• Identify and disseminate best practices to local VA medical centers and VA community partners; and
• Collaborate with local stakeholders to develop a systematic approach to solving veteran homelessness.

Enhance the ability of the TANF program to prevent and end homelessness for low-income families and unaccompanied youth:

• Expand the use of state and local TANF resources to fund rapid re-housing and homelessness prevention activities;
• Increase the percentage of homeless households that receive TANF economic and employment assistance; and
• Improve TANF services for families with the most severe barriers to employment and economic self-sufficiency and expand access of TANF recipients with severe disabilities to SSI benefits.

Improve the ability of the child welfare system to prevent homelessness:

• Examine and promote effective strategies to meet the housing needs of child welfare involved families and youth aging out of foster care;
• Increase investments in promising and evidence-based family intervention services to reunify homeless youth with their families;
• Support state efforts to appropriately extend foster care services to youth over the age of 18 and facilitate smoother transitions from foster care; and
• Promote the collection of data to monitor the intersection of foster care involvement and homelessness.