First, the pandemic-related affordable housing and homelessness funding received to date is having a positive impact and is deeply appreciated by communities that have received it. Over 3.2 million households received emergency rental assistance from January to November 2021, according to Treasury Department data[3] which is credited with keeping the eviction rate lower than expected after the end of the national eviction moratorium. And new challenges have also emerged. These could include providing information on youth specific prioritization processes and sharing examples of how local communities are addressing the needs of youth and minors. This step would fundamentally alter the landscape for people experiencing homelessness, institutionalization, and housing instability, ultimately preventing many stints of homelessness because households with low incomes would be able to afford housing and, thus, would be less likely to fall behind on rent and face eviction. There are many partnerships to build and nurture. The voucher expansion included in the House-passed Build Back Better Act would advance racial equity and equity for other marginalized groups such as people with disabilities and low-income seniors. The federal government has a number of programs aimed at ending and preventing homelessness in America. Further, the analysis shows that often the [p]eople with the longest experiences of homelessness, most significant health conditions, and greatest vulnerabilities are not accessing and being served by emergency shelters. And although it had a slower start than hoped for, the ERA program (which received almost $50 billion through the December 2020 relief bill and the March 2021 American Rescue Plan), is accelerating assistance to households that need it and keeping millions of households in their homes. Additionally, these in-person counts can be supplemented with administrative data, such as records collected by public and nonprofit agencies that may provide services to individuals experiencing homelessness. Vouchers effectively fill in the gap between the cost of rent and utilities and how much a household can afford to pay, ensuring that those with very low incomes can afford housing. This support could help to improve coordination and the delivery of services to both young adults and minors at the local level. . The health and economic impacts of COVID-19 have been far reaching. During the pandemic, congregate shelters have been especially problematic, as they can facilitate the spread of COVID-19. Congress should also enact the Houses current fiscal year 2022 appropriations proposal for a 125,000-voucher increase and pass a large-scale, multi-year voucher expansion like the one included in the House-passed Build Back Better Act to make progress toward ending homelessness. [20] Jacob Haas et al., Preliminary Analysis: Eviction Filing Trends After the CDC Moratorium Expiration, Eviction Lab, December 9, 2021, https://evictionlab.org/updates/research/eviction-filing-trends-after-cdc-moratorium/. Due to health and safety concerns, HUD relaxed its data standards and permitted community organizations to use alternative approaches or even opt out of the count entirely. [38] A 2019 study, The Emerging Crisis of Aged Homelessness: Could Housing Solutions Be Funded by Avoidance of Excess Shelter, Hospital, and Nursing Home Costs?[39] reviewed the ages of people experiencing homelessness and projected significant growth among people aged 65 and older over the next decade. Nearly 90 percent of sheltered family households were headed by women. An estimated 40.4 percent of unsheltered persons had at least some formal employment in the year they were observed as homeless. ), They are crucial to giving people with low incomes greater choice about where they live and to ensuring that initiatives to build or rehabilitate housing reach those who most need help. It also leads to outcomes like arrests and repeated hospitalizations instead of stable housing and appropriate health care. Second, there is still much work to do toward ending homelessness both to develop local capacity and to increase affordable and supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. Vouchers also make a major contribution to lifting people out of poverty and reducing racial disparities; the housing affordability challenges that vouchers address are heavily concentrated among people with the lowest incomes and, due to a long history of racial discrimination that has limited their economic and housing opportunities, among people of color. [33] Anna Bailey, Rental Assistance Needed to Build a Recovery That Works for People With Disabilities, CBPP, May 6, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/blog/rental-assistance-needed-to-build-a-recovery-that-works-for-people-with-disabilities. It would allow the homelessness system to be what it always should have been: a response system that quickly rehouses people experiencing a housing crisis, rather than an under-resourced and stretched housing system of last resort for families, youth, people with disabilities, elders, and people returning home from jail or prison. At the launch of the Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response Project,[41] project leaders asked people experiencing homelessness or housing instability, and those who are among groups that have been historically marginalized, for their input on what challenges should be prioritized and addressed in the nations homelessness response systems. [31] Michael Pergamit, Mary Cunningham, and Devlin Hanson, The Impact of Family Unification Housing Vouchers on Child Welfare Outcomes, American Journal of Community Psychology, March 2017, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajcp.12136. Upticks in unsheltered homelessness can increase tension with housed people in neighborhoods that include encampments. Enacting this approach would fundamentally change the lives of people experiencing homelessness and housing instability. [24] Andy Newman, Virus surges in New York Citys homeless shelters. New York Times, December 23, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/23/nyregion/homeless-shelters-covid-cases.html; David Brand, As COVID Surges Again in NYC Shelters, Advocates Renew Calls for Hotel Rooms, City Limits, December 22, 2021, https://citylimits.org/2021/12/22/as-covid-surges-again-in-nyc-shelters-advocates-renew-call-for-hotel-rooms/; Charmaine Nero, Twin Cities homeless shelters hit by a double whammy of cold weather and omicron surge, KARE 11, January 11, 2022, https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/mn-homeless-shelters-navigating-staffing-shortages-cold-weather-covid-19-tests/89-f58e8220-849e-4c0a-94d8-ab5c8d1f4182. For example, it is extremely difficult to count people living in cars, abandoned buildings, and other deserted places, and some of the homeless population may not wish to be found. Housing vouchers are highly effective at reducing homelessness, housing instability, and overcrowding and at improving other outcomes for families and children, rigorous research shows. Four themes emerged from the discussions and focus groups: CBPP also requested recommendations from people with lived expertise of housing instability and challenges on how vouchers can help end homelessness and housing instability. About half of adults and two-thirds of veterans living in homeless shelters reported having a disability in 2018. Imagine a homelessness assistance system that, instead of being forced to prioritize people based on how sick or in danger they are, can quickly offer a family, youth, or individual in crisis a permanent housing option. [21] The 2020 Housing Inventory Count published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development reports that the nation has about 400,000 emergency shelter, transitional housing, and safe haven beds, and about 546,000 rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, and other permanent housing beds at a given point in time. Early in the pandemic, Congress appropriated $47 billion in funding to help struggling renters who Lead exposure poses significant health risksparticularly to young childrenbecause it can damage COVID-19 has led to widespread unemployment and financial difficulties for millions of Americans Department of Housing and Urban Development, Financial Markets and Community Investment, For Pride Month, We Look at Some of the Challenges Facing Some LGBTQ+ Communities, During COVID-19, Access to Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Increased, but Some Challenges and Risks Remain Unaddressed, The Danger of Lead Paint Hazards in Two HUD Programs. The EHV program is pushing communities to create new or stronger partnerships between homeless services providers and housing authorities so that people experiencing or at risk of homelessness can secure safe and affordable housing. Stay informed as we add new reports & testimonies. The Census Pulse survey continues to show that millions of households are at risk of eviction; people of color continue to be disproportionally impacted; and inherent health risks posed by congregate settings, including nursing homes, jails, and shelters remain. [10] Henry, Mahathey, and Takashima, op. FUP, which operates as an interagency collaboration between local public housing agencies and child welfare agencies, has been shown to expedite child welfare case closure and support high rates of family reunification for families involved with the child welfare system. [27] Will Fischer, Sonya Acosta, and Erik Gartland, More Housing Vouchers: Most Important Step to Help More People Afford Stable Homes, CBPP, May 13, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/more-housing-vouchers-most-important-step-to-help-more-people-afford-stable-homes. But unless a household also receives a voucher or other similar ongoing rental assistance, construction subsidies for private units rarely produce housing with rents that are affordable for households with incomes around or below the poverty line which make up most of the renters confronting severe housing affordability challenges. The new vouchers would also help to reduce the large racial disparities in housing opportunity, which reflect long-standing discrimination in housing, employment, and other areas. [40] CBPP, More Housing Vouchers Needed to Help Disabled People Afford Homes in the Community, September 15, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/more-housing-vouchers-needed-to-help-disabled-people-afford-homes-in-the-community. Local, state, and federal eviction moratoriums have prevented many though not all families from losing their homes, but most families still must pay their rent and accumulate debt if they cannot. [16] Renter households with worst case housing needs are those with very low incomes (no more than 50 percent of the area median income) who receive no government housing assistance and pay more than half of their income for rent, live in severely inadequate conditions, or both. [38] CBPP, More Housing Vouchers Needed to Help Older Adults Afford Stable Homes in the Community, August 5, 2021, https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/more-housing-vouchers-needed-to-help-older-adults-afford-stable-homes-in-the. And it includes critical resources for homeless assistance systems to right-size and shift operations so that people living on the street could be rehoused through delivery of outreach and service coordination, coupled with housing that is affordable through the availability of vouchers or other permanent subsidies. My name is Ann Oliva; I am the Vice President for Housing Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It also would risk constraining the housing choices available to low-income people, people of color, and people with disabilities. Job losses and reductions in scheduled work hours fell most heavily on workers in low-wage industries and on people of color, who face long-standing inequities often stemming from structural racism in education and employment. People experiencing homelessness often work but still cannot afford housing. This includes experiences such as living on the streets, in a shelter, or temporarily staying with others. These are literally life and death situations. However, safe, stable, and affordable housing remains out of reach for millions of older adults and their families, including seniors experiencing homelessness. The Center is an independent, nonprofit policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of federal and state policy issues affecting low- and moderate-income individuals and families. These reductions in health care utilization resulted in over $6,000 in annual savings per person. But shelters are far from ideal as well. [37] Sophie Collyer et al., Housing Vouchers and Tax Credits: Pairing the Proposal to Transform Section 8 with Expansions to the EITC and the Child Tax Credit Could Cut the National Poverty Rate by Half, Center on Poverty & Social Policy at Columbia University, October 7, 2020, https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/publication/2020/policy-proposal-housing-vouchers. One study estimated that giving all eligible households vouchers would lift 9.3 million people above the poverty line. [42] Both groups were already more likely to struggle to afford housing. [26] The problem requires a comprehensive approach that addresses the large numbers of households that cannot afford rents in their communities because their incomes are too low to afford reasonably priced housing, an insufficient supply of reasonably priced housing, or both. And in some cases, such investments can improve access to neighborhoods where it would otherwise be difficult for people with low incomes to rent homes. Housing Choice Vouchers can also be project-based to support development of affordable and supportive housing in areas that need increased supply. [18] Chris Glynn, Thomas H. Byrne, and Dennis P. Culhane, Inflection Points in Community-Level Homeless Rates, February 2020, https://wp-tid.zillowstatic.com/3/Homelessness_InflectionPoints-27eb88.pdf; Chris Glynn and Alexander Casey, Homelessness Rises Faster Where Rent Exceeds a Third of Income, Zillow Research, December 11, 2018, https://www.zillow.com/research/homelessness-rent-affordability-22247/. [19] The housing-related relief measures are temporary; thus, further policies and investments will be needed to solve the longer-term problems of housing instability and homelessness. Unaccompanied youth experiencing sheltered homelessness were more likely to be people of color (Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, multi-racial, or another race other than white) than youth in the general population. Over the course of a year, nearly 1.45 million people experience sheltered homelessness at some time.[7]. Before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance. But safe, affordable housing options for the millions of households experiencing or at risk of homelessness must be the core component. Housing instability became a high-profile national issue during the pandemic, when millions of renters fell behind in rent after job losses, reductions in scheduled hours, or illness. Through our work on the Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response project and through one-on-one discussions with industry groups and communities, at least two things seem clear. However, the administrative data reveal substantial material deprivation among people experiencing homelessness. People experiencing homelessness appear to be having not just a year of deprivation and challenge, but a decade (at least). In other words, homelessness is a symptom of persistent challenges, poverty, and insecurity. (See Figure 2. [17] Nicole Elsasser Watson et al., Worst Case Housing Needs: 2019 Report to Congress, Department of Housing and Urban Development, June 2020, https://www.huduser.gov/PORTAL/sites/default/files/pdf/worst-case-housing-needs-2020.pdf. These 2020 point-in-time data illustrate two significant shifts in the landscape of homelessness that were underway prior to the pandemic: Recent data from the Census Bureaus Pulse Survey demonstrate the continued challenges families are facing to secure and afford stable housing during the pandemic as well as the outsized burden experienced by people of color, as well as children and seniors. After a brief examination of the current national landscape on homelessness and housing instability, my testimony today will discuss: HUD reports that more than 580,000 people (including members of families as well as individuals) were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Homelessness assistance systems necessarily operate via a scarcity model that requires front-line workers and homelessness assistance providers to make excruciating decisions about who will get needed resources. Unfortunately, the Housing Choice Voucher program only reaches about 1 in 4 eligible families due to funding limitations. [2] Living on the streets is a brutal existence for men, women, families, and youth, and negatively impacts not only the people forced to live in these conditions but also the surrounding neighborhoods and communities. To conduct the PIT count, communities must use one of HUDs approved methods, which generally involve having volunteers or staff visually locate and attempt to survey unsheltered individuals on the street. In September, we reported on several challenges nonprofits and other groups face in their efforts to serve youth who are experiencing homelessness. These households typically cant afford rent set high enough for an owner to cover the ongoing cost of operating and managing housing. Policy interventions have helped evictions fell substantially compared to pre-pandemic levels when the federal eviction moratorium was in place. In 2021, COVID-19 disrupted the PIT count. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on this timely and important topic. However, during the holiday season and throughout the year, some people are living without shelter and are going hungry. The approach must also address access to services for people who need and want them. Many providers of homelessness services told us that their communitys process for prioritizing people for housing resources tends to prioritize young adults lower than older adults. The days are getting colder as Thanksgiving approaches. Shelters feature only short-term stays, and congregate settings can exacerbate health conditions rather than providing the kind of help people need to obtain housing. In particular, expanding vouchers to all eligible households would cut the poverty rate for Latino people by a third, for Black people by a quarter, and by a fifth for Asian people and Pacific Islanders and American Indians and Alaska Natives. A system that has a housing placement for a person who experienced unsheltered homelessness and chose to enter substance use treatment but needs housing to maintain their sobriety and housing stability. This coordination of services is critical to addressing housing and health care access barriers that people with disabilities and other complex health needs often experience. 28861, May 2021, https://www.nber.org/papers/w28861. (See Figure 4. Testimony of Ann Oliva, Vice President of Housing Policy, [5] Sixty-one percent were in sheltered locations, while 39 percent were unsheltered. I also want to thank Chairwoman Waters and Representatives Cleaver and Torres for their work on the Ending Homelessness Act of 2021, which would build on the investments made over the last two years and make bold changes to strengthen communities and improve the lives of those who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. Research has shown that they experience geriatric medical conditions such as cognitive decline and decreased mobility at rates that are on par with those among their housed counterparts who are 20 years older . Insufficient funding prevents vouchers from reaching most people experiencing homelessness, as well as the 24 million people in low-income renter households that pay more than half of their income for rent and utilities. We have much work to do to realize that vision. Some are long-standing issues for example, the scarcity of available supportive and affordable housing units dedicated to people experiencing homelessness makes exiting the homeless system difficult. Families experiencing homelessness are typically headed by women and a large share include young children. In tight housing markets where the number of housing units is inadequate to meet demand and costs are driven up by inadequate supply, more units should be made available by increasing subsidies for constructing affordable housing and rehabilitating affordable housing so it remains on the market and in good condition, and by reducing regulatory barriers to development. As noted earlier in this testimony, the federal government along with some states and localities has implemented large-scale measures to mitigate the pandemics housing-related fallout through substantial investments to shelter people experiencing homelessness outside of congregate shelters when possible; reduction of evictions through eviction moratoria and emergency rental assistance; and provision of stable housing through emergency housing vouchers and investments to increase the supply of affordable and supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. Is a young person who is being trafficked in exchange for a place to sleep more vulnerable than a woman with a serious mental illness living on the street or a family with young children living in their car? It further recommended permanent housing resources including the Section 202 program, Housing Choice Vouchers, and Permanent Supportive Housing to address the housing and service needs of this aging cohort to both improve well-being and reduce costs in physical and behavioral health care, nursing homes, and shelters. BBB also includes key housing investments to help people who have the lowest incomes and who face the greatest challenges in affording stable housing. The Act also includes investments in affordable housing supply where needed. [33] Permanent supportive housing can help address long-term homelessness by providing, in combination, affordable housing and voluntary supportive services such as help remembering to take medications and scheduling medical appointments, help understanding a lease agreement, and connections to other health and social services in the community. Of those persons, 62 percent were children and nearly 30 percent were children under age 5. These resources are the right start, but more investment on an ongoing, rather than temporary, basis ultimately will be needed to build on the successes of these relief measures and fully address the homelessness crisis described in this testimony. They also can increase interactions with police and fire departments that are costly and do not resolve peoples needs or the homelessness crisis overall. This approach aligning emergency responses with longer-term supply side investments and rental assistance resources will help communities execute comprehensive plans to address local needs. [39] Dennis Culhane et al., The Emerging Crisis of Aged Homelessness, Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy, 2019, https://aisp.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Emerging-Crisis-of-Aged-Homelessness-1.pdf. Some 71 percent of those assisted by the vouchers would be people of color. Example of Homeless Encampment in Oakland, CA, Challenges in accurately counting the homeless population. Many of us may feel fortunate to share time and a meal with friends and family. [21] People often wait for long periods of time in a shelter or on the street before gaining access to a unit and services. The ERA program, which was designed to prevent an eviction crisis, has assisted millions of households and it is working, as evidenced by lower (though still too high) eviction rates today than prior to the pandemic in many communities for which we have data.[20]. Ending Homelessness: Addressing Local Ch challenges facing homeless services providers and people experiencing homelessness in accessing housing and services; why universal vouchers are the most important step we can take toward ending homelessness; how voucher expansion would advance equity for historically marginalized people; how voucher expansion can reduce homelessness most effectively, based in part on recent discussions with people with lived experience of homelessness and voucher use; and. [14] Janey Rountree, Nathan Hess, and Austin Lyke, Health Conditions Among Unsheltered Adults in the U.S., California Policy Lab, October 6, 2019, https://www.capolicylab.org/health-conditions-among-unsheltered-adults-in-the-u-s/. In our report released yesterday, we recommended that HUD provide communities more information about how best to use such administrative data to improve PIT counts moving forward. A broad body of research shows that rental assistance is highly effective at reducing homelessness and helping people maintain housing stability, including among individuals with mental illness, HIV/AIDS, and other complex health conditions.

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