Date: 1987-03-05
Speaker: ST GERMAIN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of H.R. 558. the urgent relief for the Homeless Act. I am proud of the fact that the Committee on Banking. Finance and Urban Affairs and its Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development was the first committee of the Congress to recognize and to conduct hearings on the nationwide scope of homeless problems that exists in our country. In December of 1982. under the able leadership of the distinguished Gentleman from Texas. Mr. GONZALEZ. the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development conducted the first hearing on homelessness since the days of the Great Depression in the 1930s when this issuewas last reviewed by a committee of the Congress. We. on the Banking Committee. have also been in the forefront of proposing a Federal response beginning in 1983. Under the leadership of Chairman GONZALEZ and our colleague from Minnesota. BRUCE VENTO. we have pushed since that time for Federal funds to provide emergency shelter for homeless people. Mr. Chairman. I can recall very clearly the cries of outrage that met our ears when we proposed the first program of $60 million. We have come a long way from that time. especially with bipartisan support that we have with this bill today. Joining us at that time in responding to the needs of homeless Americans was the distinguished ranking minority member of the Banking Committee. our colleague from Ohio. CHALMERS WYLIE. He and his colleague from Connecticut. STEWART McKINNEY. I commend them now. as I did back in 1983. for their support. H.R. 558. the Urgent Relief for the Homeless Act. is a bipartisan response to the very real crisis that exists in all of our communities today. This bill has been put together in a bipartisan manner under the direction of the Democratic leadership of the House based on previous attempts of my committee and the Appropriations Committee in responding to the needs of the homeless people. The bill provides for an emergency authorization of $500 million to be allocated in the quickest possible manner to provide emergency shelter. food and health care for our homeless people. We have worked together on this bill with our colleagues on the Committees on Energy and Commerce. Government Operations. and Education and Labor. It is a committeewide emergency response and. Mr. Chairman. it bodes well for our future response to this problem. Mr. Chairman. this is only our preliminary response and an emergency one at that. The failure of the administration and the Congress to continue to provide the absolutely essential housing assistance to low- and moderateincome people has directly resulted in the homeless situation that we see in all or our communities. No Member in this Chamber can tell us that they do not have a homeless problem in their districts. It is a problem that exists in our large cities. our small towns. our suburban communities and in our rural areas. The Congress must face up to the problem. We must act on a longterm basis and we on the Banking Committee pledge to do so. H.R. 4. this years housing authorization bill. begins the process of rebuilding our Federal housing delivery system and to reestablish a national housing policy. The Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development will complete hearings on H.R. 4 within the next 2 weeks and will begin markup process toward the end of March. I pledge to this House that we on the Banking Committee will bring to the floor a major housing bill within the next 2 months. and we will act with dispatch and bipartisan support that we saw here with last years housing bill. H.R. 1. Mr. Chairman. I urge my colleagues to join me in taking this first step to addressing the housing needs of our Nation.