I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4347 
To end homelessness in the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 16, 2005 
Ms. CARSON (for herself, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. LEE, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. 
CAPUANO, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. SANDERS, 
and Mr. GUTIERREZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees 
on Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, Education and the Workforce, 
Government Reform, Veterans’ Affairs, and Ways and Means, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To end homelessness in the United States. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Bringing America Home Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings and purpose.
TITLE I—RECOGNITION OF HOUSING AS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT 
Sec. 101. Recognition by societies, faiths, and organizations. 
Sec. 102. Establishment of goal to end homelessness. 
TITLE II—HOUSING SECURITY 
Sec. 201. Congressional findings. 
Subtitle A—Authorizations of Appropriations for Housing Programs 
Sec. 221. National Affordable Housing Trust Fund. 
Sec. 222. Incremental rental assistance for 1,500,000 families. 
Sec. 223. Funding for HUD housing programs. 
Sec. 224. HUD rural housing and economic development program. 
Sec. 225. Rural housing programs. 
Sec. 226. Department of Veterans Affairs homeless comprehensive services pro-
grams. 
Subtitle B—Federal Homelessness to Housing Mutual Mortgage Association 
Sec. 231. Short title and statement of purpose. 
Sec. 232. Establishment. 
Sec. 233. Powers and authorities. 
Sec. 234. Mutual housing operations. 
Sec. 235. Financing. 
Sec. 236. Relationship with other programs. 
Sec. 237. Oversight. 
Sec. 238. Protection of name. 
Sec. 239. Definitions. 
Sec. 240. Territorial applicability. 
Subtitle C—Use of Federal Surplus Property to Assist the Homeless 
Sec. 271. Use of Federal surplus property to assist the homeless. 
TITLE III—HOMELESS INTERVENTION AND PREVENTION 
Sec. 301. Preservation of public housing dwelling units under hope VI. 
Sec. 302. Right to new units of individuals and families displaced by hope VI 
projects. 
Sec. 303. Policies regarding homeless individuals and families in federally fund-
ed facilities. 
Sec. 304. Establishment of Emergency Rent Relief Fund. 
Sec. 305. Income exemptions. 
Sec. 306. Post office box and general delivery service for persons with no fixed 
address. 
Sec. 307. Temporary ex-offender low-income housing credit. 
Sec. 308. Escrow of tenant rent in cases of owner failure to maintain units as-
sisted under Section 8 rental assistance program. 
Sec. 309. Sense of Congress regarding local ordinances that disadvantage 
homeless persons. 
TITLE IV—ASSISTANCE UNDER MCKINNEY-VENTO HOMELESS 
ASSISTANCE ACT 
Sec. 401. Congressional purposes. 
Sec. 402. Definition of homeless individual.
Subtitle A—Housing Assistance General Provisions 
Sec. 411. Definitions. 
Sec. 412. Community homeless assistance planning boards. 
Sec. 413. Technical assistance and performance reports. 
Sec. 414. Authorization of appropriations. 
Subtitle B—Emergency Shelter Grants Program 
Sec. 421. Grant assistance. 
Sec. 422. Amount and allocation of assistance. 
Sec. 423. Eligible activities. 
Sec. 424. Repeals. 
Subtitle C—Continuum of Care Program 
Sec. 431. Continuum of care. 
Sec. 432. Eligible activities. 
Sec. 433. Program requirements. 
Sec. 434. Allocation amounts and funding. 
Subtitle D—Repeals and Conforming Amendments 
Sec. 441. Repeals. 
Sec. 442. Conforming amendments. 
Sec. 443. Amendment to table of contents. 
TITLE V—HEALTH SECURITY 
Subtitle A—General Provisions 
Sec. 501. Findings; Sense of Congress. 
Sec. 502. Sense of Congress regarding Medicaid expansion. 
Sec. 503. Authorizations of appropriations for certain programs. 
Subtitle B—Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
PART 1—MAINSTREAM ADDICTION AND MENTAL HEALTH 
SERVICES PROGRAMS 
SUBPART A—DISCHARGE PLANNING 
Sec. 511. Averting patient discharge into homelessness. 
SUBPART B—PROVISION OF APPROPRIATE SERVICES 
Sec. 516. Application of knowledge development findings to service delivery. 
SUBPART C—GRANTEE PLANNING, REPORTING, AND CAPACITY-BUILDING 
Sec. 521. Expansion of participation in grantee planning. 
Sec. 522. Documentation of needs of and establishing priorities for homeless 
population. 
SUBPART D—DESIGNATION OF PERSONS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS AS 
PRIORITY POPULATION 
Sec. 526. Requiring grantees to direct funds to persons experiencing homeless-
ness. 
Sec. 527. Prioritization of services for runaway, homeless, and street youth.
Sec. 528. Definition of runaway, homeless, and street youth as high risk. 
SUBPART E—FEDERAL PROGRAM MANAGEMENT 
Sec. 531. Establishment of Federal plan on addiction, mental illness, and 
homelessness. 
PART 2—TARGETED HOMELESS ADDICTION AND MENTAL 
HEALTH SERVICES PROGRAMS 
SUBPART A—REAUTHORIZE, RENAME, AND STRENGTHEN THE GRANTS FOR 
THE BENEFIT OF HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS PROGRAM 
Sec. 541. Treatment and recovery initiative for persons experiencing homeless-
ness. 
SUBPART B—REAUTHORIZE AND STRENGTHEN THE PROJECTS FOR 
ASSISTANCE IN TRANSITION FROM HOMELESSNESS (PATH) PROGRAM 
Sec. 551. Expansion of required scope of services of PATH providers. 
Sec. 552. Encouragement of States to utilize Health Care for the homeless 
projects as PATH providers. 
Sec. 553. State descriptions of resource allocation process. 
Sec. 554. Federal report on PATH and homeless grant programs. 
Sec. 555. Clarification of target populations provision of PATH statute. 
Subtitle C—Amendments Regarding Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS 
Resources Emergency Act of 1990 
PART 1—DISCHARGE PLANNING 
Sec. 561. Averting RWCA patient discharge into homelessness. 
PART 2—PROVISION OF APPROPRIATE SERVICES 
Sec. 566. Amplification of scope of RWCA services. 
Sec. 567. Application of knowledge development findings to service delivery. 
PART 3—GRANTEE PLANNING, REPORTING, AND CAPACITY 
BUILDING 
Sec. 571. Expansion of participation in grantee and contractor planning. 
Sec. 572. Development of knowledge to strengthen providers’ capacity to offer 
homeless-competent services. 
PART 4—DESIGNATION OF HOMELESS PERSONS AS PRIORITY 
POPULATION 
Sec. 576. Priority for persons experiencing homelessness. 
PART 5—FEDERAL PLAN ON HIV/AIDS AND HOMELESSNESS 
Sec. 581. Federal plan on HIV/AIDS and homelessness. 
TITLE VI—ECONOMIC SECURITY 
Sec. 601. Sense of Congress regarding right to a living income. 
Sec. 602. Availability of food stamp benefits to individuals who are homeless. 
Sec. 603. Amendments to Workforce Investment Act.
Sec. 604. Homebuild program for affordable housing construction and appren-
ticeship. 
Sec. 605. Department of Labor apprenticeship program for working people ex-
periencing homelessness. 
Sec. 606. Day laborer fairness and protection. 
Sec. 607. Social Security Administration outreach to homeless persons. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 
(1) lack of affordable housing results in home-
lessness; 
(2) lack of consumer protections result in home-
lessness; 
(3) lack of access to health care results in 
homelessness; 
(4) lack of employment and wages commensu-
rate with those in the local market results in home-
lessness; 
(5) lack of education results in homelessness; 
(6) homelessness offends the conscience of our 
Nation; 
(7) according to the United States Department 
of Housing and Urban Development, approximately 
5 million households experience ‘‘worst-case’’ hous-
ing needs; 
(8) as of the date of the introduction of this 
bill, in no town, city, or State in our Nation can an 
individual or family working full time at minimum 
wage, or receiving assistance under the Supple-
mental Security Income program or under the pro-
gram for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, 
afford a one- or two-bedroom apartment at the fair 
market rental rate established by the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development; 
(9) the Millennial Housing Commission re-
ported that 28,000,000 households in the United 
States spent more than 30 percent their income on 
housing, and one in eight low-income working fami-
lies earning minimum wage have to spend more than 
half their income on housing; 
(10) 42 percent of adults residing in homeless 
shelters across the United States are working; 
(11) 24 percent of clients of homeless shelters 
report they have needed medical attention in the 
past year but were unable to get it and 46 percent 
of such clients could not get access to a dentist when 
one was needed; 
(12) 55 percent of people experiencing home-
lessness in the United States have neither public nor 
private health insurance; 
(13) of the homeless individuals who suffer 
mental illness, it is estimated that only 5 to 7 per-
cent require some form of institutionalization and
the rest could live productively with proper assist-
ance; 
(14) millions of Americans can not find work 
that pays a livable wage or can not find work at all 
and, therefore, cannot afford housing at market rent 
levels; 
(15) lack of affordable housing near job oppor-
tunities makes it difficult for poor parents to find 
and retain employment; 
(16) families without stable housing typically 
have to move often, making job retention difficult 
and forcing their children to change schools fre-
quently; 
(17) at least 3,500,000 persons are likely to ex-
perience homelessness during a year in the United 
States, 39 percent of which are children; and 
(18) in its ‘‘Status Report on Hunger and 
Homelessness in America’s Cities’’, the United 
States Conference of Mayors reports that requests 
for shelter by families with children went unmet 32 
percent of the time in 2004. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to end 
homelessness in the United States.
TITLE 
I—RECOGNITION 
OF 
HOUSING AS A BASIC HUMAN 
RIGHT 
SEC. 101. RECOGNITION BY SOCIETIES, FAITHS, AND ORGA-
NIZATIONS. 
The Congress hereby acknowledges that the housing 
has been recognized as a basic human right by many and 
varied— 
(1) religious and faith organizations; 
(2) States, cities, and counties; 
(3) national and local organizations; 
(4) international organizations, including the 
United Nations through its Declaration of Human 
Rights. 
SEC. 102. ESTABLISHMENT OF GOAL TO END HOMELESS-
NESS. 
The Congress hereby declares that— 
(1) the Declaration of Independence identifies 
the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness as among the unalienable rights with which all 
are endowed; 
(2) the exercise of such rights is contingent 
upon the fulfillment of basic needs crucial for the 
proper development of human life: food, clothing, 
shelter, medical care, work, and rest; and
(3) it is a National goal to act in concord with 
the aforementioned rights and fulfill the basic 
human need of shelter by ending homelessness in the 
United States and to provide the security of a home 
for all people. 
TITLE II—HOUSING SECURITY 
SEC. 201. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that— 
(1) a rapid decrease in the availability of af-
fordable housing has led to an increase in homeless-
ness in recent years, even for working families; 
(2) high market-rate housing costs have left 
many families with little, if any, income to pay addi-
tional employment-related expenses such as trans-
portation, child care, or clothing; and 
(3) each year 90,000 affordable housing units 
are lost due to demolition or sale of public housing 
and housing assisted with project-based rental as-
sistance under section 8 of the United States Hous-
ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f).
Subtitle A—Authorizations of Ap-
propriations for Housing Pro-
grams 
SEC. 221. NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez 
National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12721 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subtitle: 
‘‘Subtitle G—National Affordable 
Housing Trust Fund 
‘‘SEC. 291. PURPOSES. 
‘‘The purposes of this subtitle are— 
‘‘(1) to fill the growing gap in the national abil-
ity to build affordable housing by using profits gen-
erated by Federal housing programs to fund addi-
tional housing activities, without supplanting exist-
ing housing appropriations; 
‘‘(2) to enable rental housing to be built, for 
families with the greatest economic need, in mixed- 
income settings and in areas with the greatest eco-
nomic opportunities; 
‘‘(3) to promote homeownership for low-income 
families; and
‘‘(4) to produce, rehabilitate, and preserve at 
least 1,500,000 affordable dwelling units over the 
next decade. 
‘‘SEC. 292. TRUST FUND. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 
Treasury of the United States a trust fund to be known 
as the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which 
shall be available as provided in this subtitle for assisting 
the development, rehabilitation, and preservation of af-
fordable housing. 
‘‘(b) DEPOSITS TO TRUST FUND.—For fiscal year 
2007 and each fiscal year thereafter, there shall be appro-
priated to the Trust Fund such sums as may be necessary. 
‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM TRUST FUND.—For fis-
cal year 2007 and each fiscal year thereafter, amounts ap-
propriated to the Trust Fund for each such fiscal year 
shall be available to the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development for providing assistance under this subtitle. 
‘‘SEC. 293. ALLOCATIONS FOR STATES AND PARTICIPATING 
LOCAL JURISDICTIONS. 
‘‘The Secretary shall use the total amount made 
available under section 292(c) to the Secretary from the 
Trust Fund for such fiscal year to provide assistance 
under this subtitle for the States and participating local 
jurisdictions. Of such total amount, the Secretary shall al-
locate 40 percent for States for use under section 294 and 
60 percent for participating local jurisdictions for use 
under section 294. 
‘‘SEC. 294. ASSISTANCE FROM TRUST FUND. 
‘‘(a) AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEEDS FORMULA.— 
The Secretary shall establish a formula to allocate assist-
ance under this subtitle among eligible recipients based 
on the relative need of the eligible recipient, among other 
eligible recipients that are States or participating local ju-
risdictions, as appropriate, to increase the supply of decent 
quality affordable housing. The formula shall be based 
upon a comparison of the following factors for each eligible 
recipient: 
‘‘(1) The percentage of families in the jurisdic-
tion of the eligible recipient that live in substandard 
housing. 
‘‘(2) The percentage of families in the jurisdic-
tion of the eligible recipient that pay more than 50 
percent of their annual income for housing costs. 
‘‘(3) The percentage of persons in the jurisdic-
tion of the eligible recipient having an income at or 
below the poverty line. 
‘‘(4) The cost of developing or carrying out re-
habilitation of housing in the jurisdiction of the eli-
gible recipient.