Solving Homelessness: Title V's Shortcomings and Potential Explained

Kriston Capps provides an explainer of a little-known provision of federal law that could provide large-scale benefit in finding shelter for the homeless population living in this country. The name of the government program is Title V, and it was enacted by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, which Capps describes as the most ambitious federal law that Congress has ever passed on homelessness. 

Title V—that’s the name of the 1987 provision that transfers disused federal properties to homeless-service providers—addresses one of the most vexing questions dogging many American cities. There’s vacant property everywhere, and there are homeless people everywhere. So why the hell don’t we use that property to house the homeless?

Despite bureaucratic obstacles, detailed by Capps in the article, Title V "has created some 500 emergency shelters, transitional housing facilities, nonprofit offices, and other spaces using about 900 acres of federal land across 30 states and D.C."

But a new federal law, approved late last year called the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016, could help remove some of those obstacles and unleash the full potential of Title V. Capps explains the changes to the program enacted last year:

The FAST Act included big changes for Title V. It enabled HUD to list properties online, through the HUD Exchange. (According to Juanita Perry, HUD’s Title V lead, the department is currently working on a mapping tool to make these opportunities even more visible.) The formal application process with HHS was broken into two steps, giving nonprofits four months to demonstrate financing options. The bill streamlined certain other eligibility criteria, too. And under FAST, properties could be used for permanent supportive housing, not just shelters, a major expansion to the scope of potential programming.

In shedding light on the Title V program, Capps also implies an appeal to all levels of government to get to work on solving homelessness, and offers Title V as an example of powerful tools that already exist for addressing some of the country's biggest challenges.