In the first major overhaul of the McKinney-Vento Act since 1995, when the Continuum of Care process was created, President Obama signed into law on May 20th the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act. With a federal goal that no family should be homeless for more than 30 days, the HEARTH Act includes strong initiatives to ensure that no homeless families are left behind.
When introducing the bill to the Senate in April, Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO) stated: "Updating and improving our homeless programs is even more critical as more Americans face the prospects of homelessness due to the economic downturn. The housing crisis has already displaced many families and individuals creating more strain on social safety net and homeless programs."
This landmark legislation, which takes effect in 18 months, will provide $2.2 billion for targeted homelessness assistance grant programs; increase current levels of funding for homelessness assistance grants by $600 million and allocate up to $440 million for homelessness prevention initiatives. It will also expand the definition of homelessness to allow families on the verge of becoming homeless to qualify for assistance and will reauthorize federal homelessness aid programs for the first time since 1989.
Communities that have successfully reduced family homelessness have done so by using rapid rehousing programs that help families move quickly into permanent housing and then providing wrap-around services to ensure stability. The HEARTH Act provides additional incentives to help communities reduce the amount of time families are homeless, including:
- An incentive for communities to develop rapid rehousing programs for homeless families;
- Selection criteria that reward communities that reduce family homelessness;
- An emergency solutions program that helps rehouse families who are doubled up or in other precarious situations before they ever become homeless;
- A requirement that at least 10 percent of funding be used for permanent housing for homeless families.
Other family-friendly provisions in the Act include:
- Allows up to 20 percent of funds or up to $440 million dollars to be used to for homeless prevention initiatives. This new “Emergency Solutions Grant” program will allow cities and towns to serve people who are about to be evicted, live in severely overcrowded housing, or otherwise live in an unstable situation that puts them at risk of homelessness.
- Families would be added to HUD's chronic homelessness initiative, which has helped house tens of thousands of adults who had been homeless for long periods of time and had significant disabilities.
- By retaining a definition of homelessness centered on people experiencing literal homelessness, the HEARTH Act ensures that homeless assistance continues to focus on the families that are living on the streets or in shelters. Research shows that these families are more likely to have experienced domestic violence, more likely to have poor health, and less likely to have strong support networks.
- At least 30 percent of funding must be used for permanent housing for people with disabilities, including homeless families headed by a person with an addiction, serious mental illness, post traumatic stress disorder, HIV/AIDS or other chronic illness.
- The Amendment prevents family separation. In some cases, family homeless assistance programs will only serve families with young children, which forces families with older children to choose between separating or not being able to receive shelter. The amendment adds a provision that prohibits shelters, transitional housing programs, and permanent supportive housing programs from discriminating against homeless families based on the age of their children.
The HEARTH Act will provide communities with new resources and better tools to prevent and end homelessness. In summary, the Act:
- Provides local communities with greater flexibility to spend money on preventing homelessness.
- Expands the definition of homelessness, which determines eligibility for much of the homeless assistance funding, to include people who will lose their housing in 14 days (current practice is 7 days) and people fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, or other dangerous or life threatening situations. The modestly expanded definition will also include families and youth who are persistently unstable and lack independent housing and will continue to do so.
- Increases priority on homeless families with children, by providing new resources for rapid re-housing programs, designating funding to permanently house families, and ensuring that families are included in the chronic homelessness initiative.
- Significantly increases resources to prevent homelessness for people who are at risk of homelessness, doubled up, living in hotels, or in other precarious housing situations through the Emergency Solutions Grant program.
- Continues to provide incentives for developing permanent supportive housing and provides dedicated funding for permanent housing renewals.
- Grants rural communities greater flexibility in utilizing McKinney funds.
- Modestly expands the definition of homelessness to include people who are losing their housing in the next 14 days and who lack resources or support networks to obtain housing, as well as families and youth who are persistently unstable and lack independent housing and will continue to do so.
National organizations endorsing the HEARTH Act include: The National Alliance to End Homelessness; U.S. Conference of Mayors; the League of Cities; the National Association of Counties; Habitat for Humanity International; National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies; Local Initiatives Support Corporation; Enterprise Community Partners; National Low Income Housing Coalition; Corporation for Supportive Housing; the National Equity Fund; National Alliance on Mental Illness; the Housing Assistance Council; and the National Community Development Association.
For a summary of the HEARTH Act, click on the link below.
A survey was conducted in June 2009 about whether the 30-day homelessness provision in the HEARTH Act was realistic for Pinellas County. To view the survey results, click here.
