[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 4, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E307-E308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    REINTRODUCING THE SERVICES FOR ENDING LONG-TERM HOMELESSNESS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 4, 2015

  Mr. HASTINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reintroduce the Services 
for Ending Long-Term Homelessness Act. Homelessness continues to be a 
troubling issue facing our nation. In 2014, studies show that anywhere 
from 700,000 to 2 million children, families, and veterans found 
themselves homeless.
  Nationally, on any given night, there are approximately 84,291 people 
who are experiencing chronic homelessness. Chronically homeless people 
often live in shelters or on the streets for years at a time, 
experience repeated episodes of homelessness without achieving housing 
stability, or cycle between homelessness, jails, mental health 
facilities, and hospitals. These individuals are all too often 
confronted with, or a combination of, mental illness, substance 
addiction, life-threatening illness or other serious health problems 
that make it impossible to maintain or access shelter. Fortunately, 
this bill presents us with the opportunity to address this national 
issue by ending long-term homelessness in America.
  Studies have demonstrated that supportive services are a practical 
and a guaranteed investment of public and private resources to end 
long-term homelessness. These programs result in a 39% reduction in 
total cost of services from pre- to post-supportive housing with an 
overall savings of $854,477. Furthermore, residents were significantly 
less likely to return to hospitals, nursing homes or prisons and there 
was an overall positive shift in mental and physical well-being.
  The Services for Ending Long-Term Homelessness Act does three key 
things:
  It requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting 
through the Administrator of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration, to design a national strategy for providing services in 
supportive housing that will assist in ending chronic homelessness and 
to implement programs that address chronic homelessness.
  It calls for the HHS Secretary to make multi-year, renewable grants 
based on performance criteria, including the outcome of ending long-
term homelessness matching the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 
Grants to eligible entities in order to provide services promoting 
recovery and self-sufficiency. Furthermore, it addresses barriers to 
housing stability for chronically homeless individuals and families in, 
or who are scheduled to become residents of, permanent supportive 
housing. This will also apply to other individuals and families who 
have voluntarily chosen to seek other housing opportunities after a 
period of tenancy in supportive housing.
  It directs the HHS Secretary to require grantees to report data 
regarding the performance outcomes of projects carried out under this 
Act, which shall include measuring and reporting specific performance 
outcomes related to the long-term goals of: (1) increasing stability 
within the community for individuals and families who have been 
chronically homeless; and (2) decreasing recurrence of periods of 
homelessness.

[[Page E308]]

  Mr. Speaker, it is time that we take a stand to put an end to long-
term homelessness in America. I encourage my colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle to join me in supporting this critically important bill, 
so that we can end homelessness across this nation, because no person 
deserves to live without a home or to be on the streets.

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