Congress Passes the HEARTH Act, Obama Expected to Sign Today

Published May 20, 2009 @ 08:00AM PT

Today, President Obama is expected to sign into law a comprehensive housing bill that reauthorizes HUD's McKinney-Vento program and contains the HEARTH Act.

The bill, S. 896, overwhelmingly passed by Congress yesterday, will significantly increase the support available for homeless families and individuals. While note perfect (which we'll delve into that in future posts), the bill acknowledges the realities of modern homelessness in America better than any homeless legislation to date.

Here are a few of the highlights of the bill:

Increases priority on homeless families with children, by providing new resources for rapid re-housing programs, designating funding to permanently house families, and ensuring that families are included in the chronic homelessness initiative.

Significantly increases resources to prevent homelessness for people who are at risk of homelessness, doubled up, living in hotels, or in other precarious housing situations through the Emergency Solutions Grant program.

Continues to provide incentives for developing permanent supportive housing and provides dedicated funding for permanent housing renewals.

Grants rural communities greater flexibility in utilizing McKinney funds.

Modestly expands the definition of homelessness to include people who are losing their housing in the next 14 days and who lack resources or support networks to obtain housing, as well as families and youth who are persistently unstable and lack independent housing and will continue to do so.

Stay tuned - we will track this until President Obama signs this bill into law!

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Author

Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.