Waters Statement on Lack of New Funding to Address Homelessness in Appropriations Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement:

“I am disappointed that the $1.3 trillion appropriations bill, H.R. 1865, does not contain any significant new funding to tackle the homelessness crisis. On a given night, nearly 60,000 people in Los Angeles County experience homelessness, and this is not a regional problem; it is a pressing crisis all over the country. There are over a half million people experiencing homelessness across the nation, and nearly 160,000 of them are children. We all have an obligation to make sure that people are not sleeping on the streets.

“My bill, the Ending Homelessness Act (H.R.1856), would provide $13.27 billion in emergency relief funding over five years to federal housing programs to help the homeless. I am calling on leadership to move on this bill in January so that we can end the homelessness crisis.”

In August, Chairwoman Waters convened a field hearing in Los Angeles to examine the homelessness crisis.

In July, Chairwoman Waters wrote to appropriators to call on them to address the ongoing homelessness crisis.

In March, Chairwoman Waters introduced the Ending Homelessness Act (H.R. 1856). 

In February, Chairwoman Waters convened the first Committee hearing of the 116th Congress and the Committee’s first ever full Committee hearing on the issue of homelessness in this country.

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