Homelessness: Recent Statistics, Targeted Federal Programs, and Recent Legislation

There is no single federal definition of homelessness. However, most federal programs for the homeless define a homeless individual as a person who lacks a fixed and night-time residence or whose primary residence is a supervised public or private shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations, an institution accommodating persons intended to be institutionalized, or a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. Existing data estimate the homeless population in the United States as ranging from 600,000 to 2.5 million. A congressionally mandated Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to count the homeless is expected to produce annual data about the number of homeless individuals beginning in late 2005. A number of federal programs, most authorized by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (P.L. 100-77), serve the homeless. The main federal programs for the homeless include the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program; the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP); the Health Care for the Homeless Program (HCH); the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program; the Consolidated Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs (the Basic Center Program and the Transitional Living Program); the Street Outreach Program (SOP); the Supportive Housing Program (SHP); the Shelter Plus Care (S+C) program; the Section 8 -- Moderate Rehabilitation of Single-Room Occupancy Dwellings (SRO) program; the Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program; the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP); the Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) program; and a number of other federal programs for homeless veterans. Looking toward the future, the Administration has adopted a goal of ending chronic homelessness within 10 years, and several proposals designed to help reach that goal have been introduced in the 109th Congress. CRS Report for Congress.