McKinney-Vento History
In the early 1980s, the initial responses to widespread and increasing homelessness were primarily local. Homelessness was viewed by the Reagan Administration as a problem that did not require federal intervention. In 1983, the first federal task force on homelessness was created to provide information to localities on how to obtain surplus federal property; this task force did not address homelessness through programmatic or policy actions.
In the years that followed, advocates around the country demanded that the federal government acknowledge homelessness as a national problem requiring a national response. With this goal in mind, the Homeless Persons' Survival Act was introduced in both houses of Congress in 1986. This act contained emergency relief measures, preventive measures, and long-term solutions to homelessness. Only small pieces of this proposal, however, were enacted into law. The first, the Homeless Eligibility Clarification Act of 1986, removed permanent address requirements and other barriers to existing programs such as Supplemental Security Income, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Veterans Benefits, Food Stamps, and Medicaid. Also in 1986, the Homeless Housing Act was adopted. This legislation created the Emergency Shelter Grant program and a transitional housing demonstration program; both programs were administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
In late 1986, legislation containing Title I of the Homeless Persons' Survival Act -- emergency relief provisions for shelter, food, mobile health care, and transitional housing -- was introduced as the Urgent Relief for the Homeless Act. After an intensive advocacy campaign, large bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress passed the legislation in 1987. After the death of its chief Republican sponsor, Representative Stewart B. McKinney of Connecticut, the act was renamed the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. A reluctant President Ronald Reagan signed it into law on July 22, 1987. On October 30, 2000 President William Clinton renamed the legislation the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act after the death of Representative Bruce Vento, a leading supporter of the act since its original passage in 1987.
The amendments to the McKinney-Vento Act went into effect on October 1, 2016. The educational stability amendments for children in foster care went into effect on December 10, 2016. The homelessness amendments to Title I, Part A will take effect after the 2016-2017 academic year.