Redefining “Homeless”: A new US bill aims to include ‘couch surfers’ in the official definition (Street Sense, USA)

Francine Triplett, 57, wishes she had a place of her own.

Triplett, a Street Sense street paper vendor, first lost her apartment in 1994. After completing a substance abuse program, she briefly had her own home again, but said she was “right in the midst of drugs and alcohol.”

Now, she “couch surfs,” staying with various friends in order to avoid temptation and the shelter system.

Yet, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) definition, Triplett is not homeless, because she has places to stay.

Reps. Julia Carson, D-Ind., and Geoff Davis, R-Ky., hope to address Triplett’s situation and change HUD’s definition of homelessness. In mid-February, they introduced H.R. 840, the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2007 (HEARTH).

The bill would change the current definition of “homeless” to specifically include situations where people are “couch surfing” or “doubling up.” Carson said the expanded definition “will increase flexibility for agencies and organizations that serve homeless populations.”

How “homeless” is defined is so important because often eligibility for certain services and for shelter is tied to whether or not one is considered homeless by HUD.

Carson feels very strongly that the narrow definition of “homeless” is limiting the resources homeless people need and that the new definition would give them more opportunities, said spokesman Chad Chitwood.

The legal definition of homelessness provided by Congress includes the phrase, “individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night time residence.” However, HUD says the definition only includes those who literally have no place to stay and are sleeping in shelters, transitional homes or on the street.

“The more narrow interpretation of the definition (of homelessness) is intended to make sure the targeted resources get to the people who are actually homeless,” said HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan.

But Laurel Weir, policy director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, said other government agencies, such as the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, use the same Congressional definition as HUD, yet manage to include couch surfers in the homeless populations they serve, and thus, provide funding to support these people.

“We think the statutory definition includes people who are doubled up,” she said. “Many of the families who come seeking emergency shelter in the District are doubled up.”
Weir added that doubling up may be even worse then living in a shelter because it often causes families to split.

“Parents give one or more kids to a relative, the parent stays with someone else or in a car or on the streets,” she said. “Not having shelter forces the break-up of homeless families.”

Jessica Schuler, a housing policy analyst at the National Coalition for the Homeless, agreed, noting that people staying with a friend or living in a motel are “at just as high or greater risk” than those at a shelter because they may not know how to get help.

“People living at shelters go to day centers and have a case manager to help them get the assistance they need,” she said. “It is a problem that is drastically overlooked here in our city and throughout the country.”

In addition, Schuler said, the HUD definition also needs to be expanded to include those exiting jails, prisons and juvenile justice programs.

Still, Steve Berg, the vice president for Programs and Policy at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said although doubling up is a “big problem,” changing the definition of homelessness is not the solution.

Berg pointed out that HUD already lacks the resources to serve the entire homeless population, and said that all that changing the definition will do is increase the number of homeless people HUD is not serving.

“The best you can hope for by defining people as homeless is that they are eligible to go to a homeless shelter,” Berg said. “We think families are better than that.”

“If you know you really can’t solve the problem, maybe you should do something symbolic (like changing the definition),” he said, suggesting that approaching Congress about increasing homelessness prevention resources would be better. “It’s a better idea to see if you can really solve this problem.”

Judith Dobbins, executive director of Covenant House Washington, had a different take on changing the definition. She said couch surfers are homeless regardless of how HUD defines their situation. At this shelter and service provider for young adults about a third of its 330 clients are couch surfers.

“Whether or not the definition is changed, the reality is that ‘couch surfers’ in most cases are sleeping on couches or floors for lack of a permanent address,” Dobbins said. “They also possess all the other risk factors that must be addressed with services if they are to overcome these barriers that will keep them poor and homeless.”

Carson and Davis’ bill, which would make couch surfers eligible for such services, currently has approximately 30 cosponsors, according to Weir.

These representatives held a briefing Tuesday, Jan. 27 in order to educate other members of the Financial Services Committee about the legislation.

“The goal is to try and get (the bill) marked up in committee and passed by the House,” Weir said. “They are still seeking more congressional cosponsors.”

Until then, Triplett has her own advice for those who are homeless, whether on the street or on a couch.

“If you are homeless just keep praying,” she said. “Go to the right, don’t go to the left. Somebody’s there to help you.”


By Katherine Boyle


Reprinted from Street Sense

© Street News Service: www.street-papers.org