Brief Intro To McKinney-Vento Act, Birth of USICH
Hey Team, Shalom!
This is the very little known, White House-based agency that was Congressionally tasked in 1987, to resolve homelessness, but over its 38 years existence of abject failure costing taxpayers billions of dollars, and countless numbers of lives lost, disproportionately, and in many scenarios, being American African, i.e., US Federal Citizens, descendants of America’s chattel slaves.
The reason Congress summoned activist from around the nation to come to Capital Hill to hear what can be federally done to resolve homelessness, was due to the activism pressure of leader Community for Creative Non-Violence activist, one of Ted Hayes’ earlier mentors, the late, Mitch Snyder of Washington, DC, and that of the LA based, Homeless Organizing Team (HOT) and Ted Hayes, who founded and led Justiceville.
It was this bi-coastal activism that forced Congress to legislate the July 22, 1987, Stewart B. McKinney, later amended, Vento (Bruce Vento) Congressional Homeless Assistance Act of September 1987.
Most significantly, all aspects of the Act have proven to have failed, except the untried Title V. the acquisition of federal properties, particularly lands for homelessness purposes, as advocated and lobbied by Justiceville.
The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act was signed into law on July 22, 1987, by President Ronald Reagan.
Here is the legislative timeline:
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Introduced in House: February 17, 1987
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Passed House: May 20, 1987
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Passed Senate: June 26, 1987
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Signed by President Reagan into law: July 22, 1987
This landmark legislation became the first major federal law to comprehensively address homelessness in the United States, later renamed the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act to honor both Congressman Stewart B. McKinney and Congressman Bruce F. Vento for their leadership.