[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 177 (Wednesday, November 6, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6450-S6451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REED (for himself, Ms. Collins, Ms. Klobuchar, and Mr. Van 
        Hollen):
  S. 2801. A bill to strengthen the United States Interagency Council 
on Homelessness; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
Affairs.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, along with Senator Collins, I am 
reintroducing legislation that would eliminate the sunset date for the 
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (the Council) so that 
this agency can further build upon its success in helping to prevent 
and end homelessness.
  The Council was launched under the Reagan Administration as part of 
the landmark McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. Since 
then, it has worked across the Federal government and private sector to 
coordinate homeless assistance nationally. In 2009, the Homeless 
Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing, or HEARTH Act, 
which I introduced along with Senator Collins and others, expanded the 
Council's role to work with stakeholders to develop a national 
strategic plan to end homelessness, which has guided its work to 
develop effective strategies to prevent and end homelessness.
  Since 2010 when this national strategic plan was first developed, the 
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reports that 
overall homelessness has decreased by 13%, chronic homelessness by 16%, 
and family homelessness by 25%. In addition, we have seen veterans' 
homelessness drop by 49%. This progress is not only a result of the 
more than $600 million federal investment in housing and supportive 
services through programs like HUD-VASH, but is also because of the 
direction the Council provides to the Department of Veterans Affairs 
(VA) and HUD, as well as public housing agencies administering 
assistance at the local level. Specifically, the Council helps diverse 
partners align their resources, efforts, goals, and measures of success 
for serving homeless veterans. According to the Council, it ``has led a 
process to confirm that 78 communities and 3 entire states have 
effectively ended Veteran homelessness. 35 states now have at least one 
community that has ended Veteran homelessness. Some recent 
confirmations include: Abilene, Texas, Lexington, Kentucky, Little 
Rock, Arkansas, Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and the 71 counties in 
Mississippi that make up the Mississippi Balance of State Continuum of 
Care.'' In order to further these efforts and also tackle veterans' 
homelessness on the front end, the Senate's fiscal year 2020 
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies 
(THUD) Appropriations bill includes language I authored directing the 
Council to improve the coordination between the Department of Defense, 
the VA, the Department of Labor, and HUD in order to prevent 
servicemembers from being discharged into homelessness.
  In addition to addressing homelessness in our communities, the 
Council has also helped to save money. We know that people experiencing 
homelessness are more likely to use expensive health care services and 
spend more time in incarceration--which are extremely costly to 
taxpayers, States, and local governments. According to the National 
Alliance to End Homelessness, ``based on 22 different studies from 
across the nation providing permanent supportive housing to chronically 
homeless people creates net savings of $4,800 per person per year, 
through reduced spending on jails, hospitals, shelters, and other 
emergency services.''
  The Council has extended these estimated savings by identifying and 
tailoring cost-effective solutions that reduce the use of health care 
services, as well as recidivism, for individuals experiencing chronic 
homelessness. In fiscal year 2019 alone, the Council's modest $3.6 
million budget catalyzed more than $6 billion in combined Federal 
resources that aim to address homelessness. The Council develops 
national strategies that inform the work and improve the cost-
effectiveness of programs administered by 19 Federal agencies, and as a 
result, communities and States are able to utilize housing, health, 
education, and labor funding more strategically and effectively.
  In our current budgetary environment we must have a wise and creative 
arm that helps our communities maximize resources and opportunities 
where possible, ensuring we are actually addressing homelessness, and 
not contributing to it. The Council is proof that the government can 
work and save money in the process, and our bipartisan legislation 
ensures that the Council's doors remain open until there truly is an 
end to homelessness nationwide.
  I thank the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the Rhode Island 
Coalition for the Homeless, HousingWorksRI, Council of Large Public 
Housing Authorities, A Way Home America, Community Solutions 
International, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the National 
Coalition for Homeless Veterans, National Law Center on Homelessness 
and Poverty, Funders Together to End Homelessness, True Colors United, 
the Children's Defense Fund, the National Housing Trust, the National 
Health Care for the Homeless Council, the Local Initiatives Support 
Corporation, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Consortium for 
Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force, the National Association 
of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, the Public Housing Authorities 
Directors Association, LeadingAge, Heartland Alliance, National Housing 
Conference, the National AIDS Housing Coalition, Covenant House 
International, the Forum for Youth Investment, the Housing Assistance 
Council, Volunteers of America, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, 
the Technical Assistance Collaborative, and the National Coalition for 
the Homeless for their support. I

[[Page S6451]]

urge our colleagues to join Senator Collins and me in supporting this 
legislation.

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