[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 43 (Monday, March 13, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1780-S1781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mr. Portman):
  S. 611. A bill to amend the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to 
meet the needs of homeless children, youth, and families, and honor the 
assessments and priorities of local communities; to the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce bipartisan 
legislation with my colleague Senator Portman that would align HUD 
homeless assistance with existing Federal children and youth programs 
and provide flexibility to local communities to use available resources 
to meet the needs that they identify.

[[Page S1781]]

  According to the U.S. Department of Education, approximately 1.2 
million children were homeless during the 2014 to 2015 school year; 
this is a 34-percent increase from the 939,903 homeless students in the 
2009 to 2010 school year.
  In California, over 229,000 children experienced homelessness in 
2015, nearly four times the 65,000 homeless children in the State in 
2003.
  Unfortunately, the numbers reported by the HUD Point-in-Time count 
fail to reflect these increasing numbers.
  According to the national 2015 HUD Point-in-Time count, there were 
only 206,286 people counted as homeless in households that included 
children, a fraction of the true number.
  This is important because only those children counted by HUD are 
eligible for vital homeless assistance programs and included in local 
planning efforts. The rest of these children and families are simply 
out of luck.
  The Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2017 would allow HUD homeless 
assistance programs to serve extremely vulnerable children and 
families, specifically those staying in motels or in doubled-up 
situations because they have nowhere else to go.
  These families are especially susceptible to abuse and trafficking 
because they are often not served by a case manager and thus remain 
hidden from potential social service providers.
  As a result of the current narrow HUD definition, communities that 
receive Federal funding through the competitive application process are 
unable to prioritize or direct resources to help these children and 
families.
  This bill would provide communities with the flexibility to use 
Federal funds to meet local priorities. The bill requires the Secretary 
to assess the extent to which Continuums of Care use separate, 
specific, age-appropriate criteria for determining the safety and needs 
of children and unaccompanied youth and divert people to safe, stable, 
age-appropriate accommodations.
  And I would note that the bill does not impose any new mandates on 
service providers.
  Finally, this legislation improves data collection transparency by 
requiring HUD to report the point in time PIT count and the Annual 
Homeless Assessment Report, AHAR to include data on all categories of 
homelessness.
  Mr. President, I am pleased that Senator Rob Portman has joined me as 
an original cosponsor on this bill. Homelessness continues to plague 
our Nation. If we fail to address the needs of these children and 
families today, they will remain stuck in a cycle of poverty and 
chronic homelessness.
  It is our moral obligation to ensure that we do not erect more 
barriers for these children and families to access services when they 
are experiencing extreme hardship. I believe this bill is a commonsense 
solution that will ensure that homeless families and children can 
receive the help they need.
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