By Eugene T. Lowe
May 3, 2010

When the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009 was enacted into law on May 20, 2009, several important steps were taken to address homelessness at both the national and local levels of government. HEARTH consolidated three separate Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homeless assistance programs into a single grant program. In addition, HEARTH codified in statutory law the Continuum of Care planning process, which is a part of HUDs application process to assist homeless persons. The legislation also defined the terms “homeless,” “homeless individual,” “homeless person,” and “homeless individual with a disability.” As HUD develops the regulatory structure for the new consolidated programs, the agency has initiated a rulemaking process that addresses and clarifies the definition of homelessness.

In general, the proposed rule states four possible categories that individuals and families may qualify as homeless. These are:

1 “an individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence;”

2 “Individuals or families who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence;” and

3 “unaccompanied youth and homeless families with children and youth who are defined as homeless under other federal statutes who do not otherwise qualify as homeless under the definition;” and, “any individual or family who is fleeing, or is attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other dangerous or life threatening conditions that relate to violence against the individual or a family member that has taken place within the individual’s or family’s primary nighttime residence or has made the individual or family afraid to return to their primary residence, and who has no other residence and lacks the resources or support networks to obtain other permanent housing.” The definition for “individual with a disability” is expanded in the rule to include individuals with HIV/AIDS. The rule has additional subsets and clarifications for each of the categories.

The comment period for the proposed rule ends on June 21. The rule can be found at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-8835.pdf