This newsletter article summarizes the proposed Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2017 and analyzes its potential impacts. This is one of many weekly policy updates I published for the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities.

1. 7/18/2019 Homeless Children and Youth Act Reintroduced
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Families in Society FEI Behavioral Health
Homeless Children and Youth Act
Reintroduced
The bipartisan Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2017 was introduced on March 14, 2017 by Sens. Dianne
Feinstein (D-Calif) and Rob Portman (D-Ohio) and Reps. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) and Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa). On
Tuesday, the bill came before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance. The bill amends
existing law in response to rising instances of child and youth homelessness.
According to First Focus Campaign for Children, an estimated 1.2 million children under age six experience
homelessness over the course of a year. Public schools identi ed 1.3 million homeless children and youth, pre-K
through 12th grade, in the 2015-2016 school year, which is a 34 percent increase since the end of the recession in the
summer of 2009. In addition, 4.2 million youth and young adults age 13-25 experience homelessness on their own
over the course of a year.
This legislation addresses a key barrier to services for many communities by restoring local decision making and
allowing communities exibility with how to use available resources to meet their most urgent needs, especially
those of children, youth, and families. Currently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s narrow
de nition of homelessness leaves out many of our country’s most vulnerable children and youth, thereby restricting
communities’ ability to effectively address youth and family homelessness. This tip sheet from Help Homeless Kids
Now further explains how local communities will be able to determine eligibility and the speci c services to meet the
unique needs of each homeless population, should this legislation pass and become law.
The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities will be monitoring legislation. On June 6, the House Financial
Services Committee held a hearing on the legislation. You can watch the hearing and read witness testimony online.
For more information, contact Jennifer Ralston Herrera, associate director of public policy at the Alliance.
View more public policy news and sign up for the weekly Alliance Policy Radar online.
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2. 7/18/2019 Homeless Children and Youth Act Reintroduced
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