HOMELESS ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1987

This research paper examines the economic, social and political factors which led to the enactment in 1987 of the federal Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 (McKinney Act), its legislative history, its human services and social policy underpinnings, its principal provisions, subsequent amendments to it and an appraisal of its effectiveness, including benefits and costs.

The McKinney Act represents the first attempt by the federal government to provide assistance to states and localities to handle the growing problem of homeless persons in America. The McKinney Act provided limited emergency assistance and the rudiments of a more comprehensive national approach to the problem of homelessness. The act was adopted because of the efforts of advocacy groups and a bipartisan consensus in Congress, in which the Reagan administration grudgingly acquiesced. Because of a lack of adequate funding, ineffective leadership by the Department of Education, the lack of a broad public consensus as to the basic causes of homelessness and the role of government in preventing it and alleviating its ill effects, which have been reflected in growing public hostility and apathy toward the plight of the homeless, the McKinney Act represents little more than a preliminary, somewhat feeble and groping approach to the solution of a problem which has reached the level of a national disgrace.

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ard Kennedy (D-Mass), Patrick Moynihan (D.-NY) and John Heinz (R-Pa). Strong support came from New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and an impromptu coalition of advocacy groups, which included Snyder's organization, the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of America, Rev. Larry Rice's St. Louis-based New Life Evangelistic Center, Hill Staffers for the Hungry and Homeless, the National Coalition for the Homeless and gay and lesbian groups. ("The Homeless", 1997, p. A8). President Reagan was indifferent to the bill, telling a nationally televised audience a month before he left office in 1988 that "a large percentage of them were 'retarded' people who had voluntarily left institutions that would have cared for them" (Ronald, 1988, p. 1). Policy Rationale and Principal Provisions After saying that "an immediate and unprecedented crisis due to the lack of shelter for a growing number of individuals and families" existed and that "states, units of local government, and private voluntary organizations have been unable to meet the basic human needs of all the homeless," thus necessitating federal assistance, Congress stated that "the Federal Government has a clear responsibility . . . to fulfill a more effective and responsible role to meet the ba
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Approximate Word count = 2863
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)