[Homelessness\HUD 2019 Report]
Rep. Waters: “HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress only confirms what we already know. There is a devasting homelessness crisis in this country…I have consistently prioritized this issue by convening hearings in Los Angeles and Washington, speaking out against this dysfunctional and corrupt Administration’s heartless approach to homelessness.”
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California Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2019 report which highlights the rise in homelessness in this country.
“HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress only confirms what we already know. There is a devasting homelessness crisis in this country and the number of people sleeping on the streets will only continue to rise without the necessary increases in federal funding.
“As Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, I have consistently prioritized this issue by convening hearings in Los Angeles and Washington, speaking out against this dysfunctional and corrupt Administration’s heartless approach to homelessness, and introducing legislation that will provide the necessary emergency relief funding to federal housing programs.
“I continue my call for House leadership to move my bill, the Ending Homelessness Act (H.R. 1856), so that we can end the homelessness crisis in this country.”
On January 14, Chairwoman Waters will convene a hearing entitled, “On the Brink of Homelessness: How the Affordable Housing Crisis and the Gentrification of America Is Leaving Families Vulnerable.”
In August, Chairwoman Waters convened a field hearing in Los Angeles to examine the homelessness crisis. In July, Chairwoman Waters wrote to appropriators to call on them to address the ongoing homelessness crisis. In March, Chairwoman Waters introduced the Ending Homelessness Act (H.R. 1856). In February, Chairwoman Waters convened the first Committee hearing of the 116th Congress and the Committee’s first ever full Committee hearing on the issue of homelessness in this country.
Last week, HUD admitted that “567,715 persons experienced homelessness on a single night in 2019, an increase of 14,885 people since 2018.” The report also said, “homelessness increased in California by 21,306 people, or 16.4 percent.” The HUD report also showed “the estimated number of persons experiencing long-term, chronic homelessness increased 8.5 percent between 2018 and 2019.”
