Could FEMA House the Homeless? It Could Happen Under New Federal Bill

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could be called to house people experiencing homelessness under a proposed federal bill introduced Tuesday in the House of Representatives.

The bill, by Democratic Central Valley Rep. Josh Harder, would allow governors to request that the president declare a homelessness emergency if there has been an increase in the homeless population in their state. An emergency declaration would then allow FEMA to provide emergency assistance.

Homelessness rose 16% in California between 2018 and 2019, according to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which conducts a survey of homeless populations on one day in January each year. On that day last year, volunteers counted 151,278 people sleeping outside, in their cars or RVs and in shelters across California — a number that represents more than a quarter of the nation's homeless population.

Harder introduced the bill, called the Homelessness Emergency Declaration Act, because he said homelessness should be treated with the same urgency as a natural disaster, such as the wildfires that ripped through Santa Rosa and Napa in 2017 or Paradise and Magalia in 2018.

"We have had a small fraction of people lose their homes in these wildfires compared to the hundreds of thousands of people who are living on our streets every single day," Harder said Tuesday in a phone interview. "Shouldn’t that be treated with the exact same seriousness?"

The bill would allow states to ask FEMA for help providing temporary shelters, transportation, food assistance or even mental health services, Harder said. The aid would be tailored to the needs of specific cities or regions, he said.

The proposed legislation comes on the heels of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement last week that the state would be deploying travel trailers and modular tents on state-owned land for temporary emergency shelters. He also announced the allocation of $750 million into a new state fund that would provide rental assistance for people who are on the brink of homelessness, help cities and counties build new affordable housing and stabilize board and care facilities.

Newsom's proposed budget also includes $695 million in state and federal money to pay for housing and homeless services through Medi-Cal in cases where becoming homeless could lead to costly health care services.

"The state of California is treating [homelessness] as a real emergency — because it is one," Newsom said in a statement last week. "Californians are demanding that all levels of government — federal, state and local — do more to get people off the streets and into services, whether that’s emergency housing, mental health services, substance abuse treatment or all of the above."

Homeless advocates lauded Harder's bill, saying there is no time to waste when it comes to addressing the growing number of people who find themselves homeless.

"We are seeing increasing trends in our veterans and peoples with disabilities struggling with issues of homelessness at an alarming rate," Livingston Community Health CEO Leslie Abasta-Cummings said in a statement Tuesday.

"Now more than ever, it is imperative that we put the structure and support in place to address homelessness with the same sense of urgency that we deal with other emergencies that leave a devastating and long-lasting impact on so many lives and communities throughout the United States," Abasta-Cummings said.