Housing Assistance Efficiency Act
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, the Housing Assistance Efficiency Act was introduced by
Scott Peters in July of 2013 as a technical correction to the 2009
HEARTH Act amendments to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
Changes include restoring nonprofit organizations' ability to
administer rental assistance programs, as well as alter the way in
which HUD reallocates funds.
Originally enacted in 1987 as the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act,
this legislation created a number of new programs to assist homeless
Americans' needs, including food, shelter, health care, and education.
Since 1987, it has twice been reauthorized. In 2000, it came to be
known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, with updates
including the creation of the HUD Homeless Assistance Grants, the
Department of Labor Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, and
others. In 2009, the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition
to Housing, the HEARTH Act, amended McKinney-Vento Homeless to combine
the Shelter Plus Care and the Supportive Housing Programs into a
single, competitive program.
Supported by HUD and the administration, the bill before us today
will correct unintended consequences created by the HEARTH Act by
allowing existing nonprofits that operate CoC programs for leased
housing to homeless families and individuals to continue to manage
their McKinney-Vento grants as rental assistance.
It restores nonprofit participation and maximum community flexibility
by delegating authority to these institutions to administer rental
assistance. It allows Innovation of Promising Practices. Providing
nonprofits with administration of rental assistance will allow these
groups to implement new housing practices, which would better assist
the communities they are in. It reduces administrative work by allowing
reallocation to occur once a year instead of semiannually.
I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source