An Overview of Homelessness in America Hearing
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AN OVERVIEW OF HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND INSURANCE OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 17, 2018 Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services Serial No. 115–94 ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 31–458 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:25 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-05-17 HI HOMELE nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES JEB HENSARLING, Texas, Chairman PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina, MAXINE WATERS, California, Ranking Vice Chairman Member PETER T. KING, New York CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York EDWARD R. ROYCE, California NYDIA M. VELA´ ZQUEZ, New York FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York BILL POSEY, Florida MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin DAVID SCOTT, Georgia STEVE STIVERS, Ohio AL GREEN, Texas RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri DENNIS A. ROSS, Florida GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota ANN WAGNER, Missouri ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado ANDY BARR, Kentucky JAMES A. HIMES, Connecticut KEITH J. ROTHFUS, Pennsylvania BILL FOSTER, Illinois LUKE MESSER, Indiana DANIEL T. KILDEE, Michigan SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado JOHN K. DELANEY, Maryland ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona BRUCE POLIQUIN, Maine JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio MIA LOVE, Utah DENNY HECK, Washington FRENCH HILL, Arkansas JUAN VARGAS, California TOM EMMER, Minnesota JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey LEE M. ZELDIN, New York VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan CHARLIE CRIST, Florida BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia RUBEN KIHUEN, Nevada ALEXANDER X. MOONEY, West Virginia THOMAS MACARTHUR, New Jersey WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio TED BUDD, North Carolina DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York TREY HOLLINGSWORTH, Indiana SHANNON MCGAHN, Staff Director (II) VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:25 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-05-17 HI HOMELE nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND INSURANCE SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin, Chairman DENNIS A. ROSS, Florida, Vice Chairman EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri, Ranking EDWARD R. ROYCE, California Member STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico NYDIA M. VELA´ ZQUEZ, New York BILL POSEY, Florida MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri STEVE STIVERS, Ohio BRAD SHERMAN, California RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts KEITH J. ROTHFUS, Pennsylvania JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio LEE M. ZELDIN, New York DANIEL T. KILDEE, Michigan DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan JOHN K. DELANEY, Maryland THOMAS MACARTHUR, New Jersey RUBEN KIHUEN, Nevada TED BUDD, North Carolina (III) VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:25 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-05-17 HI HOMELE nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:25 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-05-17 HI HOMELE nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on: May 17, 2018 ..................................................................................................... 1 Appendix: May 17, 2018 ..................................................................................................... 35 WITNESSES THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2018 Bischoff, Ann, Executive Director, Star House ..................................................... 11 Bremer, Duana, Social Service Director, Polk, Burnett, and St. Croix Coun- ties, The Salvation Army ..................................................................................... 7 Lynn, Peter, Executive Director, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority ..... 9 Roman, Nan, President, National Alliance to End Homelessness ....................... 5 APPENDIX Prepared statements: Bischoff, Ann ..................................................................................................... 36 Bremer, Duana ................................................................................................. 44 Lynn, Peter ....................................................................................................... 49 Roman, Nan ...................................................................................................... 53 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Duffy, Hon. Sean: Written statement from Huckleberry House .................................................. 62 (V) VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:25 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-05-17 HI HOMELE nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:25 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-05-17 HI HOMELE nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER AN OVERVIEW OF HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA Thursday, May 17, 2018 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND INSURANCE, COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m., in room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Sean P. Duffy [chair- man of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives Duffy, Ross, Royce, Luetkemeyer, Stiv- ers, Hultgren, Rothfus, Zeldin, Hensarling, Cleaver, Velazquez, Sherman, Kihuen, Gonzalez, and Waters. Also present: Representative Green. Chairman DUFFY. The Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance will come to order. Today’s hearing is entitled, ‘‘An Overview of Homelessness in America.’’ Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittee at any time. Without objection, all members will have 5 legislative days with- in which to submit extraneous materials to the Chair for inclusion in the record. Without objection, members of the full committee who are not members of this subcommittee may participate in today’s hearing for the purpose of making an opening statement and questioning witnesses. The Chair now recognizes himself for a 5-minute opening state- ment. I first want to thank our witnesses for participating in today’s hearing as we take a look at homelessness in America. We also need to review the effectiveness and efficiency of our Federal pro- grams in order to determine if we are getting the biggest bang for our taxpayer dollar. We have already had an opportunity to discuss the number of ways HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) helps the poorest among us climb out of poverty and achieve self- sufficiency, whether through the FSS program, housing choice vouchers, or rental assistance. Each year, I host a homelessness and hunger summit in my dis- trict. This year, I was honored to be joined by the HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, at our event, where we had over 400 people in attend- (1) VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:25 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 G:\GPO PRINTING\DOCS\115TH HEARINGS - 2ND SESSION 2018\2018-05-17 HI HOMELE nshattuck on FSR297 with DISTILLER 2 ance. Maybe the HUD Secretary brings a few more people out. That was nice. But during the summit, we learned that, time and again, home- lessness in rural areas looks a lot different than homelessness in urban areas. But I would just note that it has the same impact on individuals and on families all the same. I am sure you will understand my focus on Wisconsin, and I want to quote something from Ms. Bremer’s testimony that high- lights the distinction between homelessness in rural areas versus urban areas. Now, before I read her quote, I would just note that PIT in HUD- speak is point in time and refers to how many people are counted as homeless in an area on a specific day. So to quote Ms. Bremer: ‘‘Comparing January 2016 PIT to the January 2017 total, there was an overall 12 percent decrease in the number of people experi- encing homelessness on that one night in Wisconsin. However, there was an 8 percent increase in the number of people experi- encing homelessness in our rural communities,’’ end quote. So we have Statewide homelessness in Wisconsin going down by 12 percent, but rural homelessness actually increasing, which is a significant problem. Now, I like Madison and Milwaukee as much as any other Wis- consinite, but we need to make sure that HUD’s resources aren’t just primarily focused on metropolitan areas. That means address- ing some of the funding disparities between rural and urban popu- lations. The 2010 Census Bureau’s Consolidated Federal Funds Report stated that of all Federal Government assistance provided per cap- ita, folks in rural communities receive almost $700 less per year than in urban communities. That is a lot of money, especially for our smaller providers who are helping the homeless. We can start by looking at the Federal definition of homelessness to be more inclusive and recognize the reality that the homeless population in rural areas face different challenges than the home- less in larger, more metropolitan areas. Our homeless in rural Wisconsin, we don’t have bridges that the homeless sleep under or large centers providing shelter. Our local communities don’t get funding