| This
month marks the 20th anniversary of the McKinney-Vento
Act, the landmark 1987 legislation that set the template
for the federal response to homelessness. Twenty years
ago this legislation was the movement against homelessness’
biggest-ever victory, but what should have been a beginning
became an end in itself. McKinney-Vento has become a deal
with the devil and not a very good one at that.
The past 30 years has seen a relentless assault upon the
poor. Name a program that serves low-income people —
Social Security Insurance, Medicaid, Community Development
Block Grants — and you’ll see a history of
steady attrition.
While the centerpiece of the Ten Year Plans to End Homelessness
is Housing First, federal funding for housing has been
cut by $52 billion since 1979. Between 1996 and 2005,
100,000 public housing units have been lost. There has
been no new funding for public housing since 1996. The
federal strategy of devolving responsibility to the states
and local governments is seldom questioned.
Instead, we have McKinney-Vento, an insider’s game
designed to divide and conquer that has never exceeded
$1.5 billion in annual funding. We win a battle here and
there while the war on the poor rages on unchecked.
Local efforts can’t make up for the federal abandonment
of public housing and decades of hostility to the poor.
McKinney-Vento — and those who have played this
game to the exclusion of fighting the broader war —
has sold out the poor and homeless.
See daily posts by Tim Harris at apesmaslament.blogspot.com
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