This hearing is entitled housing america addressing challenges and serving people experiencing homelessness. I now recognize myself for three minutes. Homelessness in the United States is an unnecessary and worsening crisis. Between 2016 and 2020, homelessness increased in the richest nation of the planet by 6 percent by 580,000 people including Children Experiencing Homelessness january 2020 is significant instability by by covid19 and Homeless Service providers on the frontlines have only highend concerns about conditions facing the homeless and the at risk population. Homeless Service Providers but those communities and is without question they are heroes and the work they provide saves american lives. Cd growing backlogs for critical Housing Resources have pushed some americans into homelessness and left millions more at risk. In addition the national Housing Resources the ability of Service Providers to provide a positive outcomes for americans battling housing insecurity. In the United States, 40 of people experiencing homelessness are currently employed yet unable to obtain stable housing. The build it back a better passed by the house in november includes a very, very, very important provisions for the committee for which we would now like to pass in the senate. I have heard opponents of these in the house. Many of the arguments i think a rather bleak. We will get into this hopefully is this hearing proceeds. I would like now to recognize the Ranking Member of our committee mr. Hill from arkansas for five minutes. Will thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for convening the hearing to talk about an issue that is important to all of us in our local districts with all of our constituents. That is the issue said how we best locally and nationally address homelessness. I like to start my talk about the success weve had in my district. First, with my own team. Im so grateful to our combat wounded warrior. We have three on our staff. And how they have worked seamlessly with our veteran community to tackle veteran homelessness and help those veterans find shelter. It is one of the most rewarding parts of my job and my time in congress. Second, i would say Central Arkansas is a blessed by having a robust and well coordinated support system to help our brothers and sisters that are homeless. Including many of our great nonprofits like the salvation army, jericho way, you knew risk in mysia. St. Francis house has a particular emphasis on veterans. The veteran villages of america run by a great iraq veteran colonel mike wass. Goodwill and then our house. All of them Work Together seamlessly to try to eliminate hopelessness and fight for shelter and the skills. From little rock to los angeles people expensing housing insecurity need not just a safe place to stay but also supported services. Whether its clinical help, Career Coaching or Case Management. That would people cannot only get housed but eventually get their own place begin their pursuit of happiness. Thats organizations like our house can successfully work in little rock as well as new york we will hear from today, have an expanding array of Supportive Services including jobtraining, Childcare Childcare and others that are successful going well beyond shelters. How the Housing First approached disadvantages, many successful local Service Providers like those in my district from receiving appropriate federal funding and why we should support those that provide crucial Wraparound Services as well as a true holistic approach to reducing homelessness. Before i yield the balance of my time i want to share a story or two from arkansans who have found success in these sorts of programs. Joshua is a constituent of mine. He had trouble finding stable housing after he left a prison. He came to our house and has been around and has been working there since 1987 but he quickly settled in, found a home in the shelter and join the Job Training Program on campus. Since last year joshua has worked in the guard shack or he enjoys meeting people as they come to seek help. Because of his hard work and dedication, joshua selected to move into our house transitional housing where he has been attending classes to earn his certification and eventually lead to that career. Joshua, we are proud of you. We are with you every step of the way. Joshua story is so important. And illustrates the importance of not just providing a safe place to stay but giving people the resources on the help they need to succeed. Mr. Chairman i look for to our discussion today and i yield back the balance of my time. Quick said youll back the balance of the sign for the chair now recognizes the vice chair of the subcommittee the gentlewoman from iowa. You are recognized for one minute break i think youre chairman. Its really good we are having this hearing. I appreciate you holding this. At last count we had five and 80000 americans who expensing homelessness in over 2500 right here in iowa. Tonight, the windchill in iowa will be negative 15 degrees. That is dangerous for anyone letter those who are forced to sleep outside tonight because they could not find shelter. I hope we get as many people sheltered in the short term as possible would be absolute need to use this hearing to discuss more solutions to address homelessness for the long term including my bill to give rural areas more flexibility to help people expensing homelessness. We need to implement the ideas we discussed today to get us back on track finding people to homes they need like we were a few years ago. Thank you and i yield back. Click the gentlewoman yields back her chair now recognizes the chair of the full committee the gentlewoman from california, ms. Waters brickwork thank you so very much for the subcommittee hearing you are doing. I am here today to listen to our witnesses. I am absolutely upset. And i am unhappy about the lack of progress some of our cities are making despite the fact are doing everything we can to get the resources to them. And i spent six hours out on the street working with homeless who are intense all of the trash et cetera. I was able to offer them project home key despite the fact we are having locals telling us people did not get off the streets. Every one of them excepted and are getting into hotel rooms for the night. Being able to work with whomever an order to transition into permanent housing. I want to hear these obstacles are. I am not pleased at all. We have got to move the homeless off the streets. Think we can all do it a better job. I yield back the balance of my time per. Thank you madam chair. They welcome the testimony for distinguished witnesses but first we have missed adriana busch was executive director of the homeless and Housing Coalition of kentucky. Next chief executive officer for king county regional Homeless Authority. Then we have ms. And oliver who is the Vice President for housing policy at the center on budget and policy priority. For the chief executive officer of the National Alliance to end homelessness. Last i will recognize mr. Hill to introduce our final witness. Boxers like me too do that now mr. Chairman . Yes please. Next i appreciate that. I got the pleasure of introducing ms. Harriet mcdonald today who serves as a president. Harriet is a long time in fierce advocate for people experiencing homelessness which she cofounded with her husband the late george mcdonald. First, herod on behalf of all of us let me offer condolences to the ready, willing and able teams and family over the loss of george. You and george have truly been points of light in new york and helping the less fortunate. Manhattan and new york is a much better place because of you. Ive been fortunate to visit several times as ive been in congress. Every time i return im so impressed by the work done by the men and women who are ready, willing and able to fight homelessness and hopelessness due to its anonymous challenge. Its an extraordinary success on all because it has lowered criminal recidivism and a work than virtually any other program for homeless in new york city. But, because it specializes on tapping the hardest cases and helping the most, that its impresses me so much about this Organization Bring i think merrick thanked Mary Mcdonald for letting her expertise and i look forward to her testimony, thank you mr. Jeffrey. Thank you mr. Hill. And welcome ms. Mcdonald for sharing your time with us this morning. Witnesses are reminded their oral testimony will be limited to five minutes. You should also be able to see a timer on your screen that will indicate how much time you have left. I would ask you be mindful of the timer and quickly wrap up your testimony when your time has expired so we can be respectful of both witnesses and Committee Members time. Objection your written statement will be made part of our record. Mr. Bush will recognize you for being with us today. And we will begin i apologize. We are to start with ms. Evian bush the Housing Coalition of kentucky. We will move down the witness ill introduce them as they speak. So i will begin with ms. Roman, pardon me. [inaudible] will begin with ms. Bush. Our nation is in the midst of a rental crisis that most severely affects low income famines were to go into the hot low Health Income coalition, there are fewer than four affordable and available rental houses in the country right now. And so, right im getting mould recognize ms. Bush and bill proceed on at that time. And give time. [inaudible] chief executive officer of kingstown homelessness. I apologize mr. Chair. Is this a bush or speaking before me . What if you are on now. Next i am on now, thank you. The nation is watching and waiting you are on right now. Next think it mr. Jones that if the subcommittee for the opportunity to speak today. On the honor serving as a chief executive officer of the king county reaches Homeless Authority for the authorities charge of the oversight of the entire of home assistant in king county inclusive of the city of seattle and other 38 city center unincorporated areas. We are currently facing a growing crisis of national proportions, aided and abetted by policy choices that have misunderstood the root causes of homelessness and under resourced the solutions that are most effective. Our investments in the homeless space have been overfocus on services that offer sub support will leaving systems to provide the actual Housing Solutions that people need. A system administer for the thirdlargest continuum of care grants im here to tell you i simply does not matter how many social workers attend to a person needs, im the outreach workers are able to connect with her unsheltered neighbors that we do not have anywhere for them to go. That is precisely where we stand today. The reality is there is no number of social who will ever transform into a house. Until we prioritize stabilizing the Housing Market for lower income individuals we will not end homelessness, will simply manage it. We must also recognize homelessness is incontrovertibly a Racial Justice issue. Homelessness disproportionally impacts people of color as a direct result of this countrys history of racials exclusion from housing. Will black people represent only 12 of the general population, we routinely make up 30 40 or more of the homeless population. Native people who make only 1 of the general population often make up three 6 of the population expensing homelessness. We must not forget that it was not until 1968 with the passage of the Fair Housing Act this country step toward ensuring people of color had access to the same Housing Finance pools as white americans. This legacy is alive today and the patterns of generational wealth that communities can access to get through hard times like housing bubble burst, global recessions or Global Pandemic for National Strategies and homelessness must be aligned with these fundamentals and focus on ending the racialized outcomes that continue to harm people even as we sit here today. Quite frankly the times come for america to decide whether we live down to its racist history or up to the dreams that held for us. Its a core component of that. This will require us to understand homelessness is an economic issue. It is about not having money to pay the rent. At the local level is the over and over again been people are shelter system are frankly other encampments are working. What they are is making a living wage. We also have the belief homelessness is driven by Behavioral Health is false. But we tend to see as a people present with these concerns, he frequently began after the experience of homelessness, not before. The reality is every day we allow someone to experience homelessness, the harder it will be for us to connect them with the resources they need. Because of this we must transform our home assistance into true Crisis Response as is been called persons the first plan in 2010. In order to that must equip systems with the necessary resources to act quickly and decisively in people expense homelessness. Jurisdictions have had success solved market projects to repurpose housing support. To some degree this is a reinvestment in the sro another low Income Housing stock those white from the american landscape during the suburbanization of the 50s, 60s, 70s per the slocum housing saw significant role or lack thereof and the inability to exit the of her homelessness without some form of subsidy and the rise of the modern formation of homelessness itself. Additionally, given the fragile Economic Networks a committee seized must continue to invest in diversion and other cash benefits that are tried and proven methods of keeping people from entering homelessness and prevent further Public Investment further down the road. This a datadriven decisionmaking is critical for the appropriate targeting of resources and must include prioritization of people expensing unsheltered homelessness. It is unacceptable for a policy to force people to live outside and we must make a concerted effort to in unsheltered homelessness in america. Finally we must invest in our workforce. For three years our fields but underfunded, as a result see our pipeline collapse but providers are hemorrhaging staff, were no longer willing to tolerate poverty wages while trying to end homelessness. The fact of the matters as work work is done by people helping other people. There is democrats thats going to change that. Housing case managers, recovery coaches. Navigators is a fancy terms for people to decide the thing they want to do with their lives is help others. And we, as a country, need to decide. Do we care about our caretakers . I think you and youll back the balance of my time. Thank you very much. The chip now recognized as ms. Bush you are recognized for five minutes. Good morning chairman cleaver, Ranking Member hale and members but honor to share our thoughts on ending homelessness in the commonwealth of kentucky. My name is Adrienne Busch of the executive director of the homeless and Housing Coalition of kentucky produced eight wide nonpartisan Advocacy Organization with unique perspective on administering Housing Assistance to people experiencing homelessness. Our mission is to limit the threat of homelessness and fulfill the promise of Affordable Housing. Too that end, we step into identify gaps read continuum of care grants emergency grant assistance when requested. Additionally we convene in kentucky enter agency on homelessness, the statewide homeless policy and planning body authorized by state statute. Where state partner of the National Low IncomeHousing Coalition. We abide by the principles that housing is a human right and housing and homelessness. Here is what we know about homelessness in our small mostly rural states it. Using multiple sources include the point in time count, the coordinated entry process on hospital discharge data, we know just over 4000 people enter street or shelter homelessness annually. Further, we know kentucky is not immune to systemic Racial Disparities among people entering homelessness. Most glaringly, 25 of people experiencing homelessness are black in the states are only 8 of the general population identify as black. The odds ratio of black being identified as experiencing homelessness was 70 higher than the odds of a white patient. In kentucky there three continuum of care grants to, lexington county, louisville Jefferson County and then the 118 counties outside of our two largest cities incur the balance of state. Each co seat maximizes to the extent possible. What lexington and louisville are often able to offer additional local revenues to support homeless assistance activities, Homeless Service providers and the balance of state rarel