The Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

Words: 1140
Pages: 5

As Social Work majors, policy will be a major component for our scope of practice. Being knowledgeable in this area will improve our competence and ability as social workers. It is not only essential that we know the policies we need to practice by, it is also vital that we have an in-depth understanding of the various dimensions of that policy. A policy analysis is a systematic approach to investigating and fully understanding policy (Popple & Leighninger, 2011). This policy analysis will be on the Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
Delineation and Overview The Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was implemented into legislation in 1987 to address the homelessness issue in the United States. Although homelessness was an issue far
…show more content…
These vouchers pay a housing subsidy to a landlord and the family in need pays the difference. In some cases, the families can use the vouchers to purchase a satisfactory home (Housing Choice). Another benefit allocated by the Mckinney-Vento Act is hunger and nutritional assistance. In Title VIII, the Food Stamps and Temporary Emergency Food Assistance programs were expanded so that people who were homeless had access to these benefits (Mckinney-Vento Act).
Majority of the funding for the programs implemented by the Mckinney-Vento Act are provided by the federal government. The grants are distributed to the states under the condition that the states will provide the necessary assistance to the people in need. There are also fees that help pay for the programs as well such as the difference the family is required to pay with the HUD program. This contributes to the mixed economy because the subsidies being paid by the government and the fees paid by the families to the landlord are filtered right back through the economy.
Historical
…show more content…
Sadly, only one part of this legislation was implemented at that time. The Homeless Eligibility Clarification Act of 1986 terminated the requirements of permanent addresses in order to obtain services and assistance such as food stamps and veterans benefits. An emergency shelter grant was created by the Homeless Housing Act in 1986 as well. Due to extreme and persistent advocacy, the Reagan Administration could no longer deny that this issue was a federal responsibility. Although he was disinclined, President Ronald Reagan signed the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act on July 22, 1987 (Mckinney-Vento