On Thursday, October 4, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on proposals to rewrite the laws governing HUD's McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act programs. NPACH Executive Director Jeremy Rosen testified at the hearing.

The hearing was quite succesful, with many witnesses providing strong support for the HEARTH Act - (H.R. 840) - House legislation that NPACH has endorsed as the best current reauthorization bill. In particular, most witnesses noted the importance of aligning HUD's definition of homelessness with the definition used by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice - definitions which include people living temporarily in unstable "doubled up" situations and people living in hotels or motels due to the lack of adequate alternative accommodations. A majority of witnesses also agreed that reauthorization should eliminate the set-asides and bonuses that have been adopted through appropriations bills and HUD administrative fiat in recent years - set-asides and bonuses that are damaging local efforts to end homelessness, particularly for children, youth, and families.

Read NPACH's testimony

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