Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce bipartisan legislation with my colleagues Senator PORTMAN and Senator BEGICH that would expand the definition of ``homeless'' used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, to ensure all homeless children and families are eligible for existing Federal homeless assistance programs.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, approximately 1.1 million children were homeless during the 2011-2012 school year; this is a 24 percent increase from the 939,903 homeless students enrolled in the 2009-2010 school year.

In California, nearly 250,000 children experienced homelessness last year, up from 220,000 in 2010 and 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 2012 HUD ``Point-in-Time Count,'' there were only 247,178 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. The rest of these children and families are simply out of luck.

The Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2014 would expand the homeless definition to 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.

I would note that the bill comes at no cost to taxpayers and does not impose any new mandates on service providers.

Finally, this legislation improves data collection transparency by requiring HUD to report data on homeless individuals and families currently recorded under the existing Homeless Management Information System survey.

I am pleased that Senators ROB PORTMAN and MARK BEGICH have joined me as original cosponsors 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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