Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) introduced the “Coordinating Substance Use and Homelessness Care Act” in the U.S. Senate on June 27. The bill would create a new HUD grant program to better coordinate substance use treatment and homelessness services. The bill is a companion to a U.S. House of Representatives bill of the same name, introduced by Representative Madeline Dean (D-PA) (see Memo, 5/23). NLIHC has endorsed both the House and Senate bills.
The program, funded at $20 million per year, would provide grants of up to $500,000 for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to improve their capacity to coordinate substance use and homelessness services. Grant recipients would be able to use funding for activities including improving programs’ infrastructure and technologies, hiring coordinators to oversee the delivery of services, assisting with Medicaid enrollment, and increasing the availability of naloxone.
“I applaud Senator Padilla for introducing the ‘Coordinating Substance Use and Homelessness Care Act’, which builds on decades of research, learning, and bipartisan support for proven solutions to homelessness,” said Diane Yentel, NLIHC’s president and CEO, in a press release addressing the bill. “The evidence is irrefutable: the most effective way to end homelessness for most people is to provide affordable, accessible homes linked with voluntary wrap-around services, including substance use and other health services. By building our nation’s capacity to bring together housing and healthcare services, this bill can help us more effectively address homelessness.”
Read the text of the “Coordinating Substance Use and Homelessness Care Act” at: https://bit.ly/3abEma2
Read a one-pager about the bill at: https://bit.ly/3NyPnji
View Senator Padilla’s press release for the bill at: https://bit.ly/3ufoiLh