HUD's definition of what constitutes a "homeless" person is disturbing.
The United States Code contains the official definition of homelessness as defined by the United States government. In Title 42, Chapter 119, Subchapter I, homeless is defined as:
§11302. General definition of homeless individual
(a) In general
For purposes of this chapter, the term “homeless” or “homeless individual or homeless person” includes—
- an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and
- an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is —
- a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);
- an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or
- a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
- a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);
Notice the word "individual". This description excludes families or couples who are homeless. It also excludes people who are "couch surfing" or moving from house to house of family members and/or friends. But the definition which disturbs me the most is how the federal government defines "chronic" homelessness. In my opinion this is the most important segment of homelessness we need to address because people who repeatedly return to shelters and live the homeless lifestyle constitute the majority of the homeless population and utilize the majority of the services with very little reduction in their homeless status. Yet the federal government does not even recognize a large percentage of this population.
HUD's definition of a "chronically homeless person":
"In general, a chronically homeless person is an unaccompanied disabled individual who has been continuously homeless for over one year."
This means that the families (and their children) passing through our dorms are not "chronically homeless" according to the federal government because; 1) they are not "unaccompanied", the parents are with children and the children are with parents, 2) they are not disabled and 3) they do not usually stay in the dorms for over one year (it's more like 3-6 months). Yet these same families are repeatedly coming back to the shelter, staying in other shelters or "couch surfing" with friends or family. I have a mother with 3 children in the shelter now who has been moving from shelter to shelter and through various housing programs since 1999! Is that not "chronically homeless"?
Why is this important? I don't know how other shelters do things but I know the one I work at produces a lot of documentation and data for various grants and programs for the homeless. One of the questions we are often asked is if the client is "chronically homeless" according to the HUD definition. You can immediately see the problem. The majority of our clients are chronically homeless as the mother and children mentioned above. Yet, according to the federal government they are not counted as chronically homeless. If the United States government is basing programs for the chronically homeless on the definition above it is no wonder we are woefully underfunded.