[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 11, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S1666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REED: (for himself, Ms. Collins, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. 
        Cortez Masto, Ms. Smith, and Ms. Klobuchar):
  S. 965. A bill to strengthen the United States Interagency Council on 
Homelessness; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senator Collins and 
Senators Van Hollen, Cortez Masto, Smith, and Klobuchar in introducing 
legislation that would permanently reauthorize the U.S. Interagency 
Council on Homelessness, the Council or USICH.
  The Council was established during the Reagan administration as part 
of the landmark McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. Over 
the last three and a half decades, it has led and coordinated the 
Federal Government's response to homelessness. In 2009, the Homeless 
Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing, HEARTH, Act, 
which I authored along with Senator Collins, expanded the Council's 
role, allowing it to work with public, nonprofit, and private 
stakeholders to develop a national strategic plan to end homelessness. 
Despite its minimal budget and small staff, the Council has helped 
guide Federal, State, and local stakeholders in deploying their 
resources in a smart, effective, and coordinated fashion. The results 
have been evident. In the decade after USICH published its first plan, 
overall homelessness declined 9 percent. Family and veteran 
homelessness declined significantly, as well, with the total numbers 
dropping nearly 30 percent and 50 percent respectively. In fact, the 
Council has been able to help 85 communities and 3 States effectively 
end veteran homelessness.
  Despite these successes, homelessness has persisted, and skyrocketing 
housing prices since 2020 have brought a new surge in homelessness. The 
Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2024 Annual Homelessness 
Assessment Report to Congress found that, ``[o]n a single night in 
January 2024, 771,480 people were experiencing homelessness in the 
United States.'' This is a record number of Americans experiencing 
homelessness since the count began. The face of homelessness--which 
individuals lack a safe, stable home--is also changing. Families with 
children had the largest increase in homelessness from 2023 to 2024. 
Indeed, nearly 150,000 children were experiencing homelessness on a 
single night last year. This staggering increase in homelessness is 
happening across the country.
  USICH helps us meet this challenge by guiding how its 19 Federal 
member Agencies deploy and leverage their resources with non-Federal 
partners to help communities effectively address homelessness. We know 
that smart, coordinated investments in programs that address 
homelessness and increase affordable housing pay additional dividends. 
The National Alliance to End Homelessness has found that taxpayers pay 
an average of $35,578 per year on each chronically homeless individual, 
while ``based on 22 different studies from across the country, 
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.'' 
In short, helping people avoid homelessness not only helps them, it 
also saves taxpayers money. USICH's coordinating work helps make our 
investments to address homelessness more informed and more effective.
  Indeed, the Council continues to prove that the government can work 
and save money in the process. I thank HousingWorks RI for its support, 
and I urge my colleagues to join us in permanently authorizing USICH.
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