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July 19, 200720th Anniversary of McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act |
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Catholic Charities USA - News and Info At an event today on Capitol Hill, Catholic Charities USA joined other housing advocates, members of Congress, and formerly homeless persons to mark the 20th anniversary of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act --now known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act-- and call upon Congress to recommit the nation to the eliminate homelessness in the United States. While the Act has helped thousands of Americans, it was never intended to solve homelessness, explained Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and a primary architect of the McKinney Act. The consequences of homelessness are costly and severe, with as many as 3.5 million Americans - including more than 1.35 million children - experiencing homelessness annually. Lacking homes and access to basic health care, their life expectancy is 30 years less than their housed counterparts. Programs created by the Act, many of which are operated by Catholic Charities nationwide, include emergency shelter and supportive housing, emergency food assistance, job training, transfer of vacant federal property for use to assist homeless persons, health care for the homeless, outreach to homeless persons with mental illness, assistance for homeless veterans and an interagency council to improve coordination of federal programs that benefit homeless persons. It points to the loss of affordable housing as a leading engine propelling contemporary homelessness. For more than 275 years, local Catholic Charities agencies have been providing a myriad of vital services in their communities, ranging from day care and counseling to food and housing.
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