Efforts to Combat Homelessness

By ericsun@mindspring.com

  • Congress commissions Labor Department study

    Congress budgets money for a study on slum conditions in major US cities.

  • Homelessness skyrockets due to depression

    As the depression rages, many people become homeless as their savings are quickly wiped out.

  • Housing Act of 1949

    This created an 810,000 unit public housing program with the goal of housing families.

  • Department of Housing and Urban Development

    Congress establishes the Department of Housing and Urban Development

  • National Alliance to End Homelessness Created

    The National Alliance to End Homelessness, a national advocacy group is founded.

  • Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

    First significant federal legislative response to a growing problem. It includes 15 programs, and an interagency committee.

  • Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998

    This reformed public housing initiatives.

  • Opening Doors Announced

    USICH (United States Interagency Council on Homeless) releases the first comprehensive strategy to combat and eventually end homelesness in the US. It is titled Opening Doors.

  • U.S. Government Supports Reducing Homelessness as Human Rights Obligation

    The first time that the US government has admitted that homelessness in the US implicates its human rights obligations.