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The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
The
Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, now known as the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, was first enacted in 1987 as
the first major, coordinated federal response to homelessness. Passed
in response to the rapid and dramatic growth of homelessness in the
United States during the 1980s, the McKinney Act was originally part of
a larger piece of legislation entitled the Homeless Persons’ Survival
Act. The Homeless Persons’ Survival Act contained three sections –
emergency measures, transitional measures, and long-term solutions.
Recognizing
the urgent crisis, Congress enacted the emergency measures as the
McKinney Act. During consideration on the Floor of the House,
Representative Thomas Foley (D-WA) commented “We realize, of course,
that the problem … will not be solved overnight, but we cannot stand
idly by while helpless people and poverty-stricken families lose the
roof over their heads. The homeless are of every description and no one
solution addresses the plight of all of them, but we will never solve
this problem unless we begin now.”
More than
a decade has passed since Congress last reauthorized the programs and
addressing homelessness is more urgent than ever. Annual surveys by the
U.S. Conference of Mayors have found increases in the number of persons
seeking shelter and services in their survey cities every year since
1987. Other programs that were intended to accompany the McKinney-Vento
Act programs and provide more permanent solutions were never enacted
and, as a result, the McKinney-Vento Act is still the primary federal
response to homelessness.
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