IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 98 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that homelessness in America should 
be eliminated. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 19, 2015 
Ms. ADAMS (for herself, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS 
of Illinois, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. 
CLARKE of New York, Mrs. BEATTY, and Mr. HASTINGS) 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 jurisdic-
tion 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 or programs 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’’; 
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Whereas among persons experiencing homelessness, there is 
a large overrepresentation of vulnerable people, including 
young children, youth who have been abandoned by their 
parents, veterans and other Americans with severe dis-
abilities, 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 
and a simultaneous increase in poverty and unemploy-
ment; 
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, 7.5 million households with ex-
tremely low incomes—which is 69 percent of such house-
holds—receive no rental assistance whatsoever from Fed-
eral programs; 
Whereas according to the National Coalition for the Home-
less, a lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of 
housing assistance programs have contributed to the cur-
rent housing crisis and homelessness, with 10.2 million 
extremely low-income renters and just 31 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-
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ary 2013, and the number of families experiencing home-
lessness decreased by an estimated 7 percent since 2012; 
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 92 percent of homeless 
mothers have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse 
during their lifetimes; 
Whereas according to Service and Housing Interventions for 
Families in Transition, 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, at least 30 percent of children in fos-
ter care could return to their home if their parents had 
housing; 
Whereas according to Doorways For Women and Families, 
homeless children between the ages of 6 and 17 years of 
age struggle with high rates of mental health problems, 
and 47 percent have problems with anxiety, depression, 
or withdrawal compared to 18 percent of other school age 
children; 
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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-
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 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 affordable housing crisis, mental health 
centers across the Nation are forced to release patients 
with limited or no access to affordable housing, creating 
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a costly and needless ‘‘revolving door’’ cycle of repeated 
hospitalizations, arrests, incarceration, and the flooding 
of our already overcrowded emergency rooms; 
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; 
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 mem-
bers; and providing housing for an untreated and unsu-
pervised homeless mentally ill family member or friend 
can result in undue financial pressures, debt, and ex-
tremely dangerous life threatening situations; 
Whereas although the United States has been highly success-
ful in dramatically reducing the numbers of homeless vet-
erans 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 industri-
alized nations in the world, with a gross domestic product 
of $16.8 trillion in 2013 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; 
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Whereas the United States needs to institute a ‘‘housing 
first’’ policy that includes linking housing with supportive 
services for those with special needs, providing commu-
nity 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 cor-
porations, nonprofit housing organizations, such as Habi-
tat For Humanity, the Local Initiatives Support Coali-
tion, the Enterprise Foundation, and private real estate 
developers have created scores of 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; the 
LIHTC program helped spur the development of 39,094 
multifamily housing projects, and almost 2,458,000 hous-
ing units placed in service between 1987 and 2012; 
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; 
Whereas one of the most effective ways to end the revolving 
door cycle of homelessness is by creating jobs, so Ameri-
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cans can avoid becoming homeless or expedite getting out 
of homelessness; and 
Whereas Federal programs that expand affordable housing 
opportunities for persons experiencing homelessness 
should strongly encourage program participants to look 
for work in a timely and reasonable manner, or engage 
in community service, if they are capable of doing so: 
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, 
the Congress should without further day establish as 
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-
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opers to renovate, construct, and provide affordable 
housing for all homeless families, women, children; 
seniors, and the mentally and physically chal-
lenged—while creating good-paying jobs for unem-
ployed 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 
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 move away 
from a ‘‘shelter first’’ housing policy and instead 
promote a ‘‘housing first’’ policy that includes link-
ing housing with supportive services for persons with 
special needs, and providing permanent housing con-
nected to employment, transportation, and job train-
ing programs for American families and individuals 
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who are capable and ready to become tax-paying 
members of the economic mainstream. 
Æ 
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