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 consider-
ation 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 Ameri-
cans are sleeping in places not meant for human habi-
tation or in temporary shelters for homeless persons; 
Whereas nearly all Americans who are experiencing homeless-
ness are ‘‘involuntary homeless’’, meaning that they do 
not want to be homeless, are likely to be in financial cri-
sis, and are in desperate need of affordable ‘‘work force 
housing’’; 
Whereas among persons experiencing homelessness, there is 
an overrepresentation of people of color and other vulner-
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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 Home-
less, 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, espe-
cially decreased value of wages; 
Whereas according to the National Low Income Housing Co-
alition, 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 Bipar-
tisan Policy Center, 7.8 million households with ex-
tremely low incomes—which is 68 percent of such house-
holds—receive no rental assistance whatsoever from Fed-
eral programs; 
Whereas according to the National Low Income Housing Co-
alition, 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 mil-
lion 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 approxi-
mately 36 percent of the homeless population as of Janu-
ary 2016, and the number of families experiencing home-
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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 em-
ployed; 
Whereas homeless families are under considerable stress, 
move frequently, and experience difficult living situations, 
such as overcrowded shelters or the apartments of rel-
atives and friends; 
Whereas according to the National Center on Family Home-
lessness, 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 home-
less 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 wel-
fare 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 chil-
dren, have twice as many ear infections, 4 times more 
asthma attacks, 5 times more stomach problems, experi-
ence higher rates of obesity, have twice as many hos-
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pitalizations, and go hungry twice as often as other chil-
dren, and homeless children are four times more likely to 
have developmental delays, twice as likely to have learn-
ing 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 peo-
ple 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 Home-
less, older adults living in poverty are a forgotten popu-
lation, 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 Dis-
ability Insurance (SSDI) benefits needed to cover the 
costs of increasing private sector rents, or frequent deni-
als of SSDI claims due to stringent eligibility require-
ments; 
Whereas due to the current affordable housing crisis, mental 
health centers across the Nation are forced to release pa-
tients 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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tat for Humanity, the Local Initiatives Support Corpora-
tion, the Enterprise Community Partners, and private 
real estate developers have created affordable and high- 
quality apartments for low-income families and individ-
uals; 
Whereas according to the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit pro-
gram (LIHTC) is the most important resource for cre-
ating 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 mil-
lion 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 Hous-
ing 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 Ameri-
cans can avoid becoming homeless or expedite getting out 
of homelessness: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that— 
(1) given the severe emotional, health, safety, 
and financial harm that results from being homeless, 
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the Congress should, without further delay, establish 
a goal to eliminate homelessness, by 2020 or as soon 
as possible, for families, women, children, veterans, 
and those with severe mental and physical chal-
lenges; 
(2) the Federal Government should, to the max-
imum extent possible, dramatically expand funding 
for the rental housing voucher program under sec-
tion 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, 
the Community Development Block Grant program, 
the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the 
McKinney-Vento homeless assistance program, and 
the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, to 
allow municipalities and public housing agencies to 
partner with nonprofit and for-profit housing devel-
opers to renovate, construct, and provide affordable 
housing for all homeless families, women, children, 
seniors, and the mentally and physically challenged, 
while creating good-paying jobs for unemployed 
homeless people and residents who have the skills 
needed to construct or renovate housing; 
(3) legislation should be enacted that provides 
substantial additional funding to the National Hous-
ing Trust Fund, for example, as provided in the 
Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection 
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Act of 2013 (S. 1217, as reported in the 113th Con-
gress); 
(4) the Federal Government should immediately 
increase funding for effective job training, child care, 
apprenticeship opportunities, and local direct hiring 
job programs, especially for unemployed homeless 
young adults; and 
(5) the Federal Government should promote a 
‘‘housing first’’ policy that includes linking housing 
with supportive services for persons with special 
needs, and providing permanent housing connected 
to employment, transportation, and job training pro-
grams for American families and individuals who are 
capable and ready to become tax-paying members of 
the economic mainstream. 
Æ 
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