Finance Reform

The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is the largest source of funding for homeless programs in the nation. HomeBase is a leading advocate of policy reforms to make this funding process more accessible and to expand the resources available through this Act. In addition, HomeBase is working with providers to identify areas where federal or state authorization is needed to broaden Medicaid program eligibility criteria or allowed usage of funds so that more homeless people can qualify and more services offered by supportive housing programs can be reimbursed. We are also working with communities to conduct analyses of how existing funding streams for housing and services are being utilized and develop proposals to better coordinate the funding streams and reapply resources to meet homeless needs. This analysis includes both mainstream and homeless-specific funding sources, including the mental health block grant, substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant, community health center funds, community services block grant, social service block grant, HOME, community development block grant, runaway and homeless youth funds, state funds, and all of the HUD/McKinney programs.