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APPENDIXES
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A
Legislative Efforts to
Aid the Homeless
In 1983, Congress appropriated $100 million for emergency food and
shelter to be funneled to community groups through the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency (FEMA). Since then it has appropriated $320
million more for this purpose and has made changes in federal housing
assistance, food stamps, Medicaid, mental health, Aid to Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), vet-
erans, job training, and other programs primarily to make them more
accessible to the homeless. A brief summary of measures enacted since
1983 follows.
P.L. 98-8: With passage of the Emergency Jobs Appropriations Act
of 1983, Congress appropriated $100 million for emergency food and
shelter to be channeled to community-based groups through FEMA. Half
of the funds were disseminated by a national board of volunteer organi-
zations and the other half were allocated to the states as formula grants.
The act also provided $125 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture
to purchase ($75 million) and distribute ($50 million) surplus food com-
modities to the needy. The new program was named the Temporary
Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).
P.L. 98-94: The 1984 Department of Defense Authorization Act
permitted military installations to make facilities available for shelters.
P.L.'s 98-151, 98-181, and 98-396: Various appropriations measures
passed in 1984 gave FEMA an additional $110 million to be allocated for
emergency food and shelter. P.L. 98-181 also provided $60 million for an
emergency shelter program to be administered by the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); however, these funds were
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166 APPENDIX A
never expended. HUD testifies that Community Development Block
Grant money was being used for the same purpose.
P.L. 98-288: The Domestic Volunteer Service Act Amendments of
1983 authorized the use of Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) in
projects to aid the homeless.
P.L.'s 99-88 and 99-160: Two appropriations acts passed in 1985 gave
FEMA an additional $90 million to be allocated for emergency food and
shelter.
P.L. 99-129: The Health Professions Training Assistance Act of 1985
directed the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) to arrange with the National Academy of Sciences for
an Institute of Medicine study of the delivery of inpatient and outpatient
health care services to homeless people.
P.L. 99-167: The 1986 Military Construction Authorization Act per-
mitted military installations to make surplus bedding available to shelter
operators.
P.L. 99-198: The Food Security Act of 1985 required state welfare
offices to develop ways to issue food stamps to people with no permanent
address. It also reauthorized TEFAP through fiscal year 1987 (FY87)
again providing $50 million per year for distribution costs but imposing
a cost-sharing requirement on distribution activities run at the state
government level.
P.L. 99-570: As part of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, Congress
enacted the Homeless Eligibility Clarification Act that (1) removed the
bar to food stamp eligibility for shelter residents and permitted the
homeless to use food stamps to buy prepared meals from soup kitchens
and shelters; (2) required the federal agencies responsible for Medicaid,
AFDC, and SSI to develop methods to assess eligibility for, and make
aid available to, people who do not have fixed home or mailing addresses;
(3) prohibited the denial of veterans' benefits because of the lack of a
mailing address; (4) required the Social Security Administration (SSA)
to make regular visits to facilities for the homeless to take SSI and food
stamp applications, and required SSA and the U. S Department of
Agriculture to develop procedures to take SSI and food stamp applications
from people about to be discharged from medical, penal, and other
institutions; and (5) explicitly made the homeless eligible for state and
local job training programs authorized by the Job Training Partnership
Act and required that their job training be coordinated with education,
training, and assistance available under other public programs.
The Veterans Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
have promulgated and adopted the mandated regulatory frameworks.
They are effective retroactively to October 1986. SSA has issued revisions
to its program operating manual; the Health Care Financing Administra-
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APPENDIX A 167
lion published a new policy statement in February 1987 that implemented
the provisions of P.L. 99-570.
P.L. 99-591: As part of a continuing appropriations measure, $15
million was given to HUD to allocate in FY87 (under the title of the
Homeless Housing Act of 1986J for housing demonstration projects
affecting the homeless. The measure also gave FEMA an additional $70
million to be allocated for emergency food and shelter.
P.L. 99-660: As part of an omnibus health care bill, Congress gave
the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) specific authority to
award grants for demonstration projects affecting the homeless mentally
ill.
P.L. 100-6: Congress passed a measure reallocating $50 million in
disaster relief funds to programs aiding the homeless. So that these funds
would be of some relief during the winter months, Congress passed H.J.
Res. 102, a supplemental appropriations act permitting $45 million of the
previously reallocated funds to be used for FEMA's emergency food and
shelter program and the other $5 million to be used by the Veterans
Administration (VA) to provide services to homeless mentally ill veterans.
The administration initially opposed the transfer, arguing that it might
jeopardize the disaster relief program and that the money would not reach
the homeless in time to meet winter needs. The resolution also included
language rejecting the administration's proposed deferral of $28.6 million
for distribution costs under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's surplus
food distribution program (TEFAP). Although considerable controversy
emerged over the resolution after the Senate added language rejecting an
imminent congressional pay raise, the resolution passed both houses of
Congress and was signed into law on February 12, 1987.
P.L. 100-77: The major homeless aid bill of the 100th Congress, H.R.
558, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, was
signed into law on July 23, 1987. In a parallel action taken by Congress,
a supplemental appropriations bill authorizing most of the funds for P.L.
100-77 was passed and signed into law on July 11, 1987.
The following are some highlights of this particular piece of legislation.
· Authorization of $200,000 for FY87 and $2.5 million to establish a
3-year Interagency Council on the Homeless, composed of most cabinet
secretaries and the heads of several independent agencies.
· Authorization of $15 million for FY87 (in addition to funds already
appropriated) and $124 million for FY88 for FEMA's emergency food
and shelter program, which had been operating by way of appropriation
language for the previous 4 years.
· Authorizations, with regard to HUD, for (1) $100 million in FY87
and $120 million in FY88 for state grants for emergency shelter and $80
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168 APPENDIX A
million in FY87 and $100 million in FY88 for a supportive housing
demonstration program (of which at least $20 million would be earmarked
for projects that serve homeless families with children and at least $15
million for projects providing permanent housing for handicapped home-
less people); the amounts that would be authorized for FY87 for both
programs are in addition to the $15 million already appropriated under
the FY87 continuing resolution, P.L. 99-591; and (2) an additional $35
million each for FY87 and FY88 for Section 8 assistance for the
rehabilitation of single room occupancy (SRO) dwellings to be used solely
to house the homeless.
· Authorizations, with regard to HHS, for (1) $50 million in FY87 and
$30 million in FY88 for new grants to provide outpatient health care to
the homeless; (2) $35 million in FY87 and such sums as may be necessary
in FY88 for new state block grants to provide outpatient mental health
services to the homeless chronically mentally ill; (3) $10 million in FY87
for new alcohol and drug abuse treatment demonstration projects for the
homeless to be conducted by community-based public and nonprofit
entities; and (4) $40 million for each of FY87 and FY88 for emergency
community services grants for the homeless under the community services
block grant program.
· Authorizations, with regard to the Department of Education, for (1)
$7.5 million in FY87 and $10 million in FY88 for new state grants to
develop literacy programs for homeless adults; (2) $5 million for each of
FY87 and FY88 for state grants to establish an Office of Coordinator of
Education of Homeless Children and Youth in each state to ensure that
homeless children have access to public education; and (3) $2.5 million
in FY88 for new grants to state and local education agencies for exemplary
programs that successfully address the needs of homeless elementary
and secondary school students.
· With regard to the Department of Agriculture, the bill will, among
other things, (1) allow related families with children who live together to
be treated as separate households for the purpose of obtaining food
stamps, and (2) prohibit third-party payments on behalf of households
residing in temporary shelter that lack adequate cooking facilities from
being counted as income for the purpose of obtaining food stamps, thereby
increasing benefits for those in certain welfare hotels.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
food stamps
