National Homelessness Policy Taking Control Away From Communities

Over the past few years, HUD’s design of the annual Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) has increasingly undermined local control and effectively legislated through the rule-making process.

Unable to successfully move the Samaritan Initiative through the 108th Congress, the Administration, via HUD and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH), has now aggressively moved to impose the emphasis on “ending chronic homelessness” on localities, rather than allow communities to determine their own priorities based on actual need.

Two current pieces of McKinney-Vento reauthorization legislation–S. 1801 and H.R. 5041–propose to write much of this current policy into statute.

Numerous national, state, and local organizations have joined together to issue a set of principles that we believe must form the basis of any reauthorization measure. Included in this coalition are faith-based and community-based human needs organizations, public school personnel, state and local child welfare agencies, health care providers, social justice advocacy coalitions, and concerned individual citizens.

Collectively, our members serve or represent every segment of the homeless population, including infants and toddlers, school-age children, youth in runaway and homeless situations, families fleeing domestic violence, persons with disabilities, and low-income working individuals and families.

We ask you to read the NPACH statement, share it with your community, and consider adding your organization to the list of endorsers:

National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness

(Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless has signed on.)

For more information, contact Matt Achhammer with National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness at machhammer@npach.org.