Funds for Homeless Win Lopsided Approval in House

The House, responding to what several members called “a national cancer,” overwhelmingly approved two bills Tuesday earmarking millions of dollars for food, emergency shelters, job training and health care for the homeless.

“With these actions, we are finally establishing a long-term federal commitment to aid the homeless,” said House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.). “It is an action long, long overdue.”

The first House vote came on a $9.4-billion catch-all bill making $355 million available for emergency homeless programs. House members approved the measure 309 to 114 and sent it on to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved today.

Other sections of the legislation included bail-out funds and cash subsidies that Congress previously agreed to give American farmers, plus funds for AIDS research, economic assistance for Central American democracies and a multitude of other programs.

House members also tacked on a measure freezing further expenditures on construction of the new U. S. Embassy in Moscow until Nov. 1, pending review by the Reagan Administration on security problems in the building.

The second action taken by the House authorizes--but does not compel--Congress to spend $442 million this fiscal year and $616 million next year on a variety of homeless programs. Democratic and Republican sponsors hailed the 301-115 vote for the measure, which was approved last week by the Senate, as a landmark action.

Sponsors said they expect quick approval by President Reagan of the $9.4-billion measure, based on assurances from White House budget officials. They said there were no indications, however, whether Reagan would also agree to sign the second measure, the longer-term authorization bill for homeless programs.

Despite the two lopsided votes, several House members objected to the cost of both bills, questioning whether the federal government really knows how many homeless people there are.

“There is broad sympathy for the homeless . . . but there is no data that calls for this action,” said Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who questioned estimates by several activists that there are 2 million homeless in the nation. “We’re spending millions of dollars and we don’t even know.”

As part of its $355-million emergency appropriation, Congress earmarked $96.7 million for health care, alcohol and drug abuse programs for the homeless, $80 million for transitional housing programs, $50 million for additional emergency shelters, $20 million to care for homeless veterans, plus funds to rehabilitate low-income housing and educate homeless children.

Under the legislation, funds would be provided directly to local governments and a multitude of charity groups.

The two-year homeless authorization bill would continue these same programs into the next fiscal year and “provide a strong federal commitment” to the homeless, according to Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez (D-Tex.), who chairs the House panel on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs.

Other members also praised the long-term promise held out by the bill, called the “Stewart McKinney Homeless Assistance Act” after the late Connecticut Republican congressman who worked actively on behalf of homeless programs.

However, some advocates for the interests of the homeless were skeptical. Maria Foscarinis, general counsel for the National Coalition for the Homeless, noted that Congress is not technically required to spend all of the funds called for in the authorization bill. A separate appropriation measure must be passed to set the actual spending level.

House and Senate members are scheduled to act soon on that question when they take up the appropriations bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“How Congress funds that bill will tell us how strong the federal commitment to this problem is going to be . . . or if it’s just a one-year fad,” Foscarinis said.