Homelessness Policy Essay

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In order to address this large social issue there needed to be policies enacted in to help reduce and eventually eliminate homelessness. Homelessness in the United States alone is something that has raised prominent concern to the country on all federal, state, and the local levels. Even though there have been great strides to address homelessness as one large issue, that can benefit the entire population, there has been policies and programs in place to benefit certain sections of this population. There are laws and programs that cater toward certain groups of people such as, women and children, children alone and single men and women.
The first federal program enacted to assist all homeless people, no matter what subgroup they fell into …show more content…

HUD main focus is to provide funding for homeless agencies and services in the United States. There are many program that HUD provided funding for through grants established in 1987, and each program has their own requirements, that people who are considered homeless have to fall into. These housing assistant grants are funded 4 programs (ESG)Emergency Shelter Grant, (SHP) Supportive Housing Program,(SRO) Single Room occupancy and (S+C)Shelter+ care(CRS Report,2015). Under this department there were great problems because critics believed that the federal government didn’t exactly understand what homeless services were needed at a local level. This pushed for the HUD to rethink the way they funded programs, by giving authority to communities at a local level so they can decide where the funding would be disbursed ( Dakin,2011). This local community is called a Continuum of care. Through this process, local communities (typically cities, counties, and a combination of both) establish advisories boards made up of representatives from local government, service providers, community member and even former homeless people who meet to establish strategies to address homelessness in their communities (CRS Report,2015). In order for each continuum to receive funding, there must be a outline on how it will address homelessness and and provides services.