Civilian Property Realignment Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CUMMINGS. I thank the gentlelady for yielding to me, Mr. Speaker, and I rise in opposition to H.R. 1734, the Civilian Property Realignment Act.

Although I support the efforts to improve the process used to dispose of Federal property, I believe in its current form this legislation inappropriately limits the access that service providers for the homeless have traditionally had to surplus Federal property.

Current law requires that all Federal surplus properties be considered for use by entities that provide assistance for the homeless. This legislation would create a BRAC-like commission to dispose of unused Federal property, and would require a majority vote of this commission before any specific property could be considered for homeless assistance.

This provision is misguided and should have been eliminated before this legislation reached the floor. I submitted to the Rules Committee a commonsense amendment that would have fixed this problem. My amendment would have ensured that section 501 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which provides for the discounted conveyance of surplus Federal property to homeless assistance providers, would continue to apply to all properties approved for disposal by the commission established by H.R. 1734.

Unfortunately, my amendment was not made in order. There is no evidence that the current process for reviewing properties for use by homeless assistance providers has slowed property disposals. Indeed, more than 14,000 properties have completed Title V reviews and remain on the government's books awaiting disposal.

According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, the number of homeless children in America increased by more than 448,000 from 2007 to 2010 due to the financial crisis. Approximately 1.6 million children--1 in 45 children--were homeless in 2010, a 38 percent increase over the level of child homelessness in 2007.

With access to surplus Federal properties, homeless assistance providers can provide housing, support services, and employment assistance to help the homeless get back on their feet. We should not make careless alterations to the McKinney-Vento program.

I understand the gentlelady from the District of Columbia plans to offer an amendment that would require the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to apply section 501 of McKinney-Vento to the extent practicable. If she does, I would support that.

This is a step in the right direction, and I commend her efforts. But there should be no limitations on the size and value of the properties that should be subject to review for potential use by homeless assistance groups. For that reason, I cannot support this legislation so long as it contains provisions that would be harmful to the homeless and would reduce resources available to homeless assistance providers.

I urge Members to oppose H.R. 1734.

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