[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 60 (Thursday, April 29, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4442-S4443]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. Snowe):
  S. 913. A bill to require the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development to distribute funds available for grants under title IV of 
the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to help ensure that 
each State received not less than 0.5 percent of such funds for certain 
programs, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
and Urban Affairs.


            THE HOMELESSNESS ASSISTANCE FUNDING FAIRNESS ACT

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the 
Homelessness Assistance Funding Fairness Act. I introduce this bill in 
conjunction with my House colleague, Congressman John Baldacci, who is 
sponsoring a companion bill in the House. Congressman Baldacci and I 
have been working on issues involving the homeless for some time, in 
our attempt to devise an approach that will distribute federal funds 
more equitably and effectively.
  Congress has taken important steps to begin to address the root 
causes of homelessness in America. Some of the most important are the 
Continuum of Care programs which provide grants that link neighborhood 
partnerships and community services with shelter. The goal of Continuum 
of Care programs is self-sufficiency for people who are homeless, an 
approach that goes well-beyond the ``band aid'' solutions of yesteryear 
which provided the homeless only a bed for the night. Continuum of Care 
programs support treatment and counseling programs in conjunction with 
shelter, recognizing the hard reality that many homeless people must 
overcome serious substance abuse, addiction, and mental health problems 
before a life of permanent housing and stability is possible.
  Under the leadership of VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman 
Bond, Congress has recognized the great importance of Continuum of Care 
programs, and has risen to the challenge to provide this broad spectrum 
of care by appropriating $975 million last year for homeless assistance 
grants, a large portion of which are Continuum of Care grants.
  Although the strategy behind the Continuum of Care grant programs has 
been saluted for its logic, the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development's administration of the competitive award process that 
allocates this funding has not been similarly celebrated.
  The unfortunate experience of the State of Maine last year is 
illustrative of the problems in the distribution of funding. Maine 
submitted two Continuum of Care grant applications in 1998, one to 
address the needs of the City of Portland, and another to serve the 
needs of much of the remainder of the state.
  In December 1998, HUD announced the Continuum of Care grant 
recipients and Maine was shocked to learn the State would receive no 
funding through the grant process. After some investigation, my office 
determined that the scores for both the Maine applications were within 
two points of a passing grade. Nevertheless, Continuum of Care HUD 
homeless assistance funding distributed to Maine went from $3.7 million 
to zero, despite the fact that in 1998 Secretary Cuomo had awarded 
programs which received funding through the Continuum of Care program 
the ``best practices'' award of excellence.
  Following a vigorous public campaign by Maine residents, and the 
repeated intervention of Maine's congressional delegation, HUD provided 
a small portion of the original request to the City of Portland outside 
the competitive process. The money, though welcomed, was far from 
enough to allow Portland to meet the needs of its homeless population.
  The human cost of this bureaucratic determination is immense. In 
light of the ongoing needs of the homeless in Maine, as well the often 
harsh weather conditions in our region of the country, HUD's decision 
was particularly troubling.
  The experience of the state of Maine has convinced me not only of the 
critical need for funding of these projects, but also of the need to 
re-evaluate the process for distributing these funds. No state should 
be wholly shut out of the funding award process, because it is an 
unfortunate reality that all states have homeless people with 
significant needs.
  In response to the unfortunate experience of the State of Maine last 
year, the legislation I am proposing specifically directs the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide a minimum 
percentage of Continuum of Care competitive grant funding to each 
state. This will create a safety net for the homeless of each state, 
without ending the competitive process that recognizes programs of 
special merit or need. My legislation also directs HUD to distribute 
this funding to a state's priority programs should the state only 
receive this mandatory minimum.
  This legislation is not only driven by basic questions of fairness to 
all states, but by the significant and often forgotten needs of 
homeless people living in rural America.
  The problem of homelessness is often mischaracterized as an exclusive 
problem of urban areas. However, homelessness in Maine, and in many 
rural communities across our country, is a large and growing problem. 
From 1993 to 1996, Maine experienced an increase in its homeless 
population of almost 20%--it is estimated that more than 14,000 people 
are homeless in my home state today. In a state of only 1.2 million 
people, this is a troubling percentage of the population.

  A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor perhaps said it 
best: ``If the urban homeless are faceless and nameless. . . then the 
rural homeless are practically invisible.'' However, Mr. President, 
that does not mean they do not exist. Unlike homeless individuals in 
urban areas who are seen on busy streets everyday, rural individuals 
living in poverty often subsist in relative isolation.
  The 27,000 Maine households with incomes of less than $6,000 annually 
teeter on a shadowy brink where income cannot guarantee shelter. When 
fortune turns sour, it is these families who find themselves without 
decent shelter. When substance abuse or mental illness afflicts the 
parents, the likelihood of homelessness escalates. Indeed, in Maine, 24 
percent of visitors to Maine homeless shelters are families with 
children.
  The problem of providing services to homeless people is compounded by 
many challenges. In some areas of Maine, geographic isolation is the 
most critical obstacle to receipt of services; in others, rising 
housing costs makes obtaining housing exceedingly difficult for the 
marginally employed. Both these circumstances are compounded by the 
significant substance abuse and mental health problems prevalent among 
the homeless population in Maine as in all areas of the country.

[[Page S4443]]

  I am proud to say that the people of Maine have developed many 
innovative programs to assist our homeless population. Through programs 
like the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, which fills the immediate needs 
of outreach, shelter and counseling to area homeless, and more long 
term programs like Shalom House, which provides services and shelter 
for the mentally ill, the Preble Street Resource Center, which provides 
job training, social services and medical care among its many services, 
and the YWCA, which provides programs to assist teen age moms, Mainers 
have worked hard to reach out and assist those in need and to provide 
effective care and outreach for Maine's homeless people.
  I recently had the opportunity to visit with the staff and clients of 
a shelter in Alfred, Maine, that is making a real difference in the 
lives of homeless men and women. As one man who has battled both severe 
alcoholism and mental illness told me, ``The people at this shelter 
saved my life. Without their help, I'd be dead on the street. But now, 
I can see a future for myself.'' Significantly, 90 percent of the 
homeless people served by this York County Shelter face serious 
problems with substance abuse or mental illness.
  These programs, and others like them, depend on federal funding, and 
its unexpected loss last year has left my state scrambling to make up 
for this serious shortfall. I hope you will join me in supporting this 
legislation that will prevent other states from facing this same 
misfortune. All states deserve at least a minimum percentage of 
homeless funding available through the Continuum of Care grants, 
because no state has yet solved the problems faced by its homeless men, 
women and children.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise in support of legislation being 
introduced by my colleague from Maine, Senator Collins, the Homeless 
Assistance Funding Fairness Act.
  This bill will set a minimum allocation for state homeless funding by 
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in an effort 
to prevent future repeats of a situation that Maine faced this year 
when HUD denied applications for homeless funding from the Maine State 
Housing Authority and the city of Portland, Maine's largest city.
  Maine was one of just four states denied funding this year under HUD 
homeless programs--and that is a situation that no state should have to 
endure. HUD took steps to partially rectify this situation since the 
original announcement, but this legislation will assure minimum funding 
for every state and assure a fairer allocation of funding in the 
future. The legislation requires HUD to provide a minimum of 0.5 
percent of funding to each state under Title IV of the Stewart B. 
McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.
  Mr. President, it may interest my colleagues to learn a little more 
about the problem that inspired this legislation. In January, HUD 
issued grant announcements for its Continuum of Care program--which 
provides rental assistance for those who are or were recently 
homeless--but denied applications by the Maine State Housing Authority 
and by the city of Portland, leaving the state one of only four not to 
receive funds.
  The Maine congressional delegation immediately protested the decision 
to HUD Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo, and I wrote and spoke repeatedly with 
Secretary Cuomo about the decision--to encourage HUD to work with Maine 
homeless providers to find an acceptable solution. I also contacted the 
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs and Housing and 
Urban Development and asked committee members to examine the issue as 
well.
  HUD officials restored about $1 million in funding to the city of 
Portland, but refused to restore State homeless funding. In 1998, Maine 
homeless assistance providers received about $3.5 million from the 
Continuum of Care Program, and this year the State had requested $1.2 
million for renewals and $1.27 million to meet additional needs. MSHA, 
which coordinates the program, estimates that many individuals with 
mental illness or substance abuse problems who have been receiving rent 
subsidies will lose those subsidies over the course of the next six 
months as a result of HUD's failure to fund Maine programs. This in 
spite of the ``proven track record'' of Maine homeless programs, 
including praise by Secretary Cuomo during his visit to Maine in August 
1998.
  Without this homeless assistance, basic subsidized housing and 
shelter programs suffer, and it is more difficult for the State to 
provide job training, health care, child care, and other vital services 
to the victims of homelessness, many of whom are children, battered 
women, and others in serious need.
  In 1988, 14,653 people were temporarily housed in Maine's emergency 
homeless shelters. Alarmingly, young people account for 30 percent of 
the population staying in Maine's shelters, which is approximately 135 
homeless young people every night. Twenty-one percent of these young 
people are between 5\1/2\ with the average age being 13. Meanwhile, 
Maine earmarks more funding per capita for the elderly, disabled, 
mentally ill, and poor for services and support programs then the 
majority of other states, even though it ranks 36th nationwide in per 
capita income.
  In closing, I would simply reiterate that Maine was not the only 
state that was frozen out of the process this year. Without 
congressional intervention, what state will be next? This makes it all 
the more important that changes be made to our homeless policy to 
ensure that no state falls through the cracks. As such, I urge my 
colleagues to join Senator Collins and myself in a strong show of 
support for this legislation.
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