IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 75 

Expressing the sense of the Congress that homelessness in America should 

be eliminated. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2017 

Ms. ADAMS (for herself and Mr. CONYERS) submitted the following concurrent 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 

and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Congress that homelessness in 

America should be eliminated. 

Whereas, on any given night, more than half a million Americans are sleeping in places not meant for human habitation or in temporary shelters for homeless persons; 

Whereas nearly all Americans who are experiencing homelessness are ‘‘involuntary homeless’’, meaning that they do 

not want to be homeless, are likely to be in financial crisis, and are in desperate need of affordable ‘‘work force 

housing’’; 

Whereas among persons experiencing homelessness, there is 

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able people, including young children, youth who have 

been abandoned by their parents, veterans and other 

Americans with severe disabilities, and women who have 

been subject to domestic violence; 

Whereas according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, the rise in homelessness over the past 35 years is 

due to a growing shortage of affordable rental housing 

with a simultaneous increase in income inequality, especially decreased value of wages; 

Whereas according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, most cities across the country have long waiting 

lists for public housing and apartments subsidized under 

the rental assistance program under section 8 of the 

United States Housing Act of 1937, due to insufficient 

Federal funding; 

Whereas according to the Housing Commission of the Bipartisan Policy Center, 7.8 million households with extremely low incomes—which is 68 percent of such households—receive no rental assistance whatsoever from Federal programs; 

Whereas according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a lack of affordable housing and the limited scale 

of housing assistance programs have contributed to the 

current housing crisis and homelessness, with 11.4 million extremely low-income renters and just 35 affordable 

and available units for every 100 extremely low-income 

renter households; 

Whereas homeless families with children constituted approximately 36 percent of the homeless population as of January 2016, and the number of families experiencing homeVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Jul 29, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC75.IH HC75

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lessness decreased by an estimated 5.6 percent since 

2015; 

Whereas according to the Urban Institute of Washington, 

DC, 29 percent of adults in homeless families are employed; 

Whereas homeless families are under considerable stress, 

move frequently, and experience difficult living situations, 

such as overcrowded shelters or the apartments of relatives and friends; 

Whereas according to the National Center on Family Homelessness, 71 percent of families experiencing homelessness 

are headed by females and over 80 percent of homeless 

mothers have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse 

during their lifetimes; 

Whereas according to the Service and Housing Interventions 

for Families in Transition study, the majority of homeless mothers also reported major depressive symptoms; 

Whereas according to a 2006 report by the United States 

Conference of Mayors, 55 percent of the cities surveyed 

reported that homeless families may have to break up in 

order to be sheltered and, according to the Child Welfare 

League of America, 1 in 6 families who receive child welfare assistance are homeless; 

Whereas according to Doorways For Women and Families, 

anxiety and depression are 3 times higher for children 

who are homeless than for their housed peers; 

Whereas according to Doorways For Women and Families, 

homeless children get sick twice as often as other children, have twice as many ear infections, 4 times more 

asthma attacks, 5 times more stomach problems, experience higher rates of obesity, have twice as many hosVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Jul 29, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC75.IH HC75

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pitalizations, and go hungry twice as often as other children, and homeless children are four times more likely to 

have developmental delays, twice as likely to have learning disabilities, and twice as likely to repeat a grade; 

Whereas the National Alliance to End Homelessness projects 

a 33-percent increase over the next decade in elderly people who are homeless, increasing the number of homeless 

persons over the age of 62 from the current estimate of 

44,172 to 58,772; 

Whereas according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, older adults living in poverty are a forgotten population, who are now forced to grow old in the streets and 

in shelters due to the dramatic increase in poverty and 

decrease in the availability of affordable housing over the 

last several years; 

Whereas there are tens of thousands of homeless Americans 

who are severely mentally and physically challenged and 

are forced to live in cars, in the streets, temporarily in 

other people’s homes, in expensive hotels, on downtown 

benches or grates, or in homeless shelters because of 

long-term unemployment, insufficient Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits needed to cover the 

costs of increasing private sector rents, or frequent denials of SSDI claims due to stringent eligibility requirements; 

Whereas due to the current affordable housing crisis, mental 

health centers across the Nation are forced to release patients with limited or no access to affordable housing, 

creating a costly and needless ‘‘revolving door’’ cycle of 

repeated hospitalizations, arrests, incarceration, and the 

flooding of already overcrowded emergency rooms; 


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Whereas thousands of caring families across the Nation often 

lack the requisite training, or the resources needed, to 

provide loving care for homeless mentally ill family members, and providing housing for an untreated and unsupervised homeless mentally ill family member or friend 

can result in undue financial pressures, debt, and extremely dangerous life-threatening situations; 

Whereas although the United States has been highly successful in dramatically reducing the numbers of homeless veterans and people experiencing chronic homelessness, 

there are still tens of thousands of veterans who remain 

homeless, or who suffer severe emotional disorders and 

injuries, who are in urgent need of affordable housing; 

Whereas the United States is one of the wealthiest industrialized nations in the world, with a gross domestic product 

of $18.46 trillion in 2016 and more than enough resources to provide quality, decent, and affordable housing 

for all Americans who are currently in need of housing; 

Whereas the success of communities using a strong ‘‘housing 

first’’ approach to sharply reduce homelessness among 

veterans and others demonstrates that homelessness is in 

fact a solvable problem; 

Whereas the United States needs to institute a ‘‘housing 

first’’ policy that includes linking housing with supportive 

services for those with special needs, providing community living opportunities, and making affordable rental 

apartments and homes available for all families, women, 

and children; 

Whereas there are cities and towns across our Nation where 

local housing authorities, community development corporations, nonprofit housing organizations, such as HabiVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Jul 29, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC75.IH HC75

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tat for Humanity, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Enterprise Community Partners, and private 

real estate developers have created affordable and highquality apartments for low-income families and individuals; 

Whereas according to the Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program (LIHTC) is the most important resource for creating affordable housing in the United States today; 

Whereas the LIHTC program helped spur the development of 

926,000 multifamily housing units, and almost 2.78 million housing units placed in service between 1987 and 

2014; 

Whereas the recent collapse of the residential housing market 

has resulted in an unemployment rate in the construction 

industry of approximately 17 percent over the last several 

years; and according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, every $10,000,000,000 dollars spent 

through the National Housing Trust Fund will create 

122,000 new jobs in the construction trades and 30,000 

new ongoing jobs in the operation of the rental housing; 

and 

Whereas one of the most effective ways to end the revolving 

door cycle of homelessness is by creating jobs, so Americans can avoid becoming homeless or expedite getting out 

of homelessness: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that— 

3 (1) given the severe emotional, health, safety, 

4 and financial harm that results from being homeless, 


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1 the Congress should, without further delay, establish 

2 a goal to eliminate homelessness, by 2020 or as soon 

3 as possible, for families, women, children, veterans, 

4 and those with severe mental and physical chal5 lenges; 

6 (2) the Federal Government should, to the max7 imum extent possible, dramatically expand funding 

8 for the rental housing voucher program under sec9 tion 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, 

10 the Community Development Block Grant program, 

11 the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the 

12 McKinney-Vento homeless assistance program, and 

13 the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, to 

14 allow municipalities and public housing agencies to 

15 partner with nonprofit and for-profit housing devel16 opers to renovate, construct, and provide affordable 

17 housing for all homeless families, women, children, 

18 seniors, and the mentally and physically challenged, 

19 while creating good-paying jobs for unemployed 

20 homeless people and residents who have the skills 

21 needed to construct or renovate housing; 

22 (3) legislation should be enacted that provides 

23 substantial additional funding to the National Hous24 ing Trust Fund, for example, as provided in the 

25 Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection 


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1 Act of 2013 (S. 1217, as reported in the 113th Con2 gress); 

3 (4) the Federal Government should immediately 

4 increase funding for effective job training, child care, 

5 apprenticeship opportunities, and local direct hiring 

6 job programs, especially for unemployed homeless 

7 young adults; and 

8 (5) the Federal Government should promote a 

9 ‘‘housing first’’ policy that includes linking housing 

10 with supportive services for persons with special 

11 needs, and providing permanent housing connected 

12 to employment, transportation, and job training pro13 grams for American families and individuals who are 

14 capable and ready to become tax-paying members of 

15 the economic mainstream. 

Æ 


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