[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 98 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 98

   Expressing the sense of the Congress that homelessness in America 
                         should be eliminated.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 19, 2015

Ms. Adams (for herself, Mr. Conyers, Ms. Norton, Mr. Danny K. Davis of 
Illinois, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mr. Richmond, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Clarke 
  of New York, Mrs. Beatty, and Mr. Hastings) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
  Services, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Congress that homelessness in America 
                         should be eliminated.

Whereas on any given night, more than half a million Americans are sleeping in 
        places not meant for human habitation, or in temporary shelters or 
        programs for homeless persons;
Whereas nearly all Americans who are experiencing homelessness are ``involuntary 
        homeless'', meaning that they do not want to be homeless, are likely to 
        be in financial crisis, and are in desperate need of affordable ``work 
        force housing'';
Whereas among persons experiencing homelessness, there is a large 
        overrepresentation of vulnerable people, including young children, youth 
        who have been abandoned by their parents, veterans and other Americans 
        with severe disabilities, and women who have been subject to domestic 
        violence;
Whereas according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, the rise in 
        homelessness over the past 35 years is due to a growing shortage of 
        affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty and 
        unemployment;
Whereas according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, most cities 
        across the country have long waiting lists for public housing and 
        apartments subsidized under the rental assistance program under section 
        8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, due to insufficient Federal 
        funding;
Whereas according to the Housing Commission of the Bipartisan Policy Center, 7.5 
        million households with extremely low incomes--which is 69 percent of 
        such households--receive no rental assistance whatsoever from Federal 
        programs;
Whereas according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, a lack of 
        affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs 
        have contributed to the current housing crisis and homelessness, with 
        10.2 million extremely low-income renters and just 31 affordable and 
        available units for every 100 extremely low-income renter households;
Whereas homeless families with children constituted approximately 36 percent of 
        the homeless population as of January 2013, and the number of families 
        experiencing homelessness decreased by an estimated 7 percent since 
        2012;
Whereas according to the Urban Institute of Washington, DC, 29 percent of adults 
        in homeless families are employed;
Whereas homeless families are under considerable stress, move frequently, and 
        experience difficult living situations, such as overcrowded shelters or 
        the apartments of relatives and friends;
Whereas according to The National Center on Family Homelessness, 71 percent of 
        families experiencing homelessness are headed by females and over 92 
        percent of homeless mothers have experienced severe physical or sexual 
        abuse during their lifetimes;
Whereas according to Service and Housing Interventions for Families in 
        Transition, the majority of homeless mothers also reported major 
        depressive symptoms;
Whereas according to a 2006 report by the United States Conference of Mayors, 55 
        percent of the cities surveyed reported that homeless families may have 
        to break up in order to be sheltered and, according to the Child Welfare 
        League of America, at least 30 percent of children in foster care could 
        return to their home if their parents had housing;
Whereas according to Doorways For Women and Families, homeless children between 
        the ages of 6 and 17 years of age struggle with high rates of mental 
        health problems, and 47 percent have problems with anxiety, depression, 
        or withdrawal compared to 18 percent of other school age children;
Whereas according to Doorways For Women and Families, homeless children get sick 
        twice as often as other children, have twice as many ear infections, 4 
        times more asthma attacks, 5 times more stomach problems, experience 
        higher rates of obesity, have twice as many hospitalizations, and go 
        hungry twice as often as other children; and homeless children are four 
        times more likely to have developmental delays, twice as likely to have 
        learning disabilities, and twice as likely to repeat a grade;
Whereas the National Alliance to End Homelessness projects a 33-percent increase 
        over the next decade in elderly people who are homeless, increasing the 
        number of homeless persons over the age of 62 from the current estimate 
        of 44,172 to 58,772;
Whereas according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, older adults 
        living in poverty are a forgotten population, who are now forced to grow 
        old in the streets and in shelters due to the dramatic increase in 
        poverty over the last several years;
Whereas there are tens of thousands of homeless Americans who are severely 
        mentally and physically challenged and are forced to live in cars, in 
        the streets, temporarily in other people's homes, in expensive hotels, 
        on downtown benches or grates, or in homeless shelters because of long-
        term unemployment, insufficient Social Security Disability Insurance 
        (SSDI) benefits needed to cover the costs of increasing private sector 
        rents, or frequent denials of SSDI claims due to stringent eligibility 
        requirements;
Whereas due to the affordable housing crisis, mental health centers across the 
        Nation are forced to release patients with limited or no access to 
        affordable housing, creating a costly and needless ``revolving door'' 
        cycle of repeated hospitalizations, arrests, incarceration, and the 
        flooding of our already overcrowded emergency rooms;
Whereas due to the current affordable housing crisis, mental health centers 
        across the Nation are forced to release patients with limited or no 
        access to affordable housing, creating a costly and needless ``revolving 
        door'' cycle of repeated hospitalizations, arrests, incarceration, and 
        the flooding of already overcrowded emergency rooms;
Whereas thousands of caring families across the Nation often lack the requisite 
        training, or the resources needed, to provide loving care for homeless 
        mentally ill family members; and providing housing for an untreated and 
        unsupervised homeless mentally ill family member or friend can result in 
        undue financial pressures, debt, and extremely dangerous life 
        threatening situations;
Whereas although the United States has been highly successful in dramatically 
        reducing the numbers of homeless veterans and people experiencing 
        chronic homelessness, there are still tens of thousands of veterans who 
        remain homeless, or who suffer severe emotional disorders and injuries, 
        who are in urgent need of affordable housing;
Whereas the United States is one of the wealthiest industrialized nations in the 
        world, with a gross domestic product of $16.8 trillion in 2013 and more 
        than enough resources to provide quality, decent, and affordable housing 
        for all Americans who are currently in need of housing;
Whereas the success of communities using a strong ``housing first'' approach to 
        sharply reduce homelessness among veterans and others demonstrates that 
        homelessness is in fact a solvable problem;
Whereas the United States needs to institute a ``housing first'' policy that 
        includes linking housing with supportive services for those with special 
        needs, providing community living opportunities, and making affordable 
        rental apartments and homes available for all families, women, and 
        children;
Whereas there are cities and towns across our Nation where local housing 
        authorities, community development corporations, nonprofit housing 
        organizations, such as Habitat For Humanity, the Local Initiatives 
        Support Coalition, the Enterprise Foundation, and private real estate 
        developers have created scores of affordable and high quality apartments 
        for low-income families and individuals;
Whereas according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Low-
        Income Housing Tax Credit program (LIHTC) is the most important resource 
        for creating affordable housing in the United States today; the LIHTC 
        program helped spur the development of 39,094 multifamily housing 
        projects, and almost 2,458,000 housing units placed in service between 
        1987 and 2012;
Whereas the recent collapse of the residential housing market has resulted in an 
        unemployment rate in the construction industry of approximately 17 
        percent over the last several years; and according to the National Low 
        Income Housing Coalition, every $10,000,000,000 dollars spent through 
        the National Housing Trust Fund will create 122,000 new jobs in the 
        construction trades and 30,000 new ongoing jobs in the operation of the 
        rental housing;
Whereas one of the most effective ways to end the revolving door cycle of 
        homelessness is by creating jobs, so Americans can avoid becoming 
        homeless or expedite getting out of homelessness; and
Whereas Federal programs that expand affordable housing opportunities for 
        persons experiencing homelessness should strongly encourage program 
        participants to look for work in a timely and reasonable manner, or 
        engage in community service, if they are capable of doing so: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) given the severe emotional, health, safety, and 
        financial harm that results from being homeless, the Congress 
        should without further day establish as a goal to eliminate 
        homelessness, by 2020 or as soon as possible, for families, 
        women, children, veterans, and those with severe mental and 
        physical challenges;
            (2) the Federal Government should, to the maximum extent 
        possible, dramatically expand funding for the rental housing 
        voucher program under section 8 of the United States Housing 
        Act of 1937, the Community Development Block Grant program, the 
        HOME Investment Partnerships program, the McKinney-Vento 
        Homeless Assistance program, and the Low-Income Housing Tax 
        Credit program, to allow municipalities and public housing 
        agencies to partner with nonprofit and for-profit housing 
        developers to renovate, construct, and provide affordable 
        housing for all homeless families, women, children; seniors, 
        and the mentally and physically challenged--while creating 
        good-paying jobs for unemployed homeless people and residents 
        who have the skills needed to construct or renovate housing;
            (3) legislation should be enacted that provides substantial 
        additional funding to the National Housing Trust Fund, for 
        example, as provided in the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer 
        Protection Act of 2013, S. 1217, as reported in the 113th 
        Congress;
            (4) the Federal Government should immediately increase 
        funding for effective job training, child care, apprenticeship 
        opportunities, and local direct hiring job programs--especially 
        for unemployed homeless young adults; and
            (5) the Federal Government should move away from a 
        ``shelter first'' housing policy and instead promote a 
        ``housing first'' policy that includes linking housing with 
        supportive services for persons with special needs, and 
        providing permanent housing connected to employment, 
        transportation, and job training programs for American families 
        and individuals who are capable and ready to become tax-paying 
        members of the economic mainstream.
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