FOR RELEASE: December 21, 2001

EVANS URGES HUD SECRETARY TO EXPEDITE RE-ACTIVATION OF INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON HOMELESS 

“Too many Americans will spend holidays fighting for daily survival,” says Illinois Congressman 

Lane Evans, the Senior Democratic Member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, today wrote a letter to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez urging the Secretary to take immediate action to revitalize the Interagency Council on the Homeless.   The letter from Evans, a champion of homeless veterans, as well as other homeless people, recognized the Council’s importance in helping the federal government to address issues related to homelessness across most of its agencies.  

The Interagency Council on the Homeless (ICH) was originally constituted in 1987 to coordinate the efforts of numerous federal agencies that provide services to homeless people.  The Council has instituted a number of innovations that work to assure agencies that may not normally work together deliver appropriate services.  Evans mentioned the success of the HUD-VA Supported Housing Program as one example of how agencies can work effectively outside of their traditional “stovepipes” to improve services for certain populations.  “The HUD-VASH program has used HUD vouchers to help hundreds of formerly homeless veterans find permanent homes while continuing to rely upon social support services from VA which allow them to remain independent”, said Evans. 

Evans was concerned that the ICH had not met in several years and introduced a bill, H.R. 936, with a requirement for the Council to meet, at least, annually.  This requirement was recently included in H.R. 2716 and approved by the Congress—it now awaits the President’s signature.  

Evans noted that this summer Secretary Martinez had committed to a large homeless advocacy group (the National Alliance to End Homelessness) that the Interagency Council on the Homeless (ICH) would be reactivated.  “It's time we reawaken this invaluable tool and put it back to work," said Martinez in a July 20, 2001 speech.  A Washington Post article about the speech further cited representatives of the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) as reporting that the Secretary would chair the ICH and would hire a staff director who would have a budget of $500,000 by the following week.

Evans expressed frustration that, to date, little progress had been made.  [S]everal months have now passed since HUD made a commitment to the homeless community…a representative of your Department reported earlier this week that HUD has not yet hired a staff director and that no meetings of the ICH are presently scheduled.” 

Evans encouraged the Secretary to convene a meeting of the ICH in January 2002 and also urged him to honor his commitment to fund and hire staff to allow the ICF to operate effectively. 

Citing the needs of thousands of homeless Americans, Evans further urged the Secretary to expedite re-activation of the Council.   “This year the holiday season will continue to find too many Americans, including our nation’s veterans, with little to celebrate.  As the richest and most powerful country on earth, we can and must end chronic homelessness in America.”

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