EMERGENCY
HOUSING VOUCHERS

The meaning of “homeless” is as such term is defined in section 103(a) of the McKinney- Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302(a)), which is codified in HUD’s Continuum of Care Program regulations at 24 CFR 578.3 and reads as follows:

Homeless means:

• An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, meaning:
  • An individual or family with a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, or camping ground;
  • An individual or family living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including congregate shelters, transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, State, or local government programs for low-income individuals); or
  • An individual who is exiting an institution where he or she resided for 90 days or less and who resided in an emergency shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that
• An individual or family who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence, provided that:
  • The primary nighttime residence will be lost within 14 days of the date of application for homeless assistance;
  • No subsequent residence has been identified; and
  • The individual or family lacks the resources or support networks, g., family, friends, faith-based or other social networks, needed to obtain other permanent housing.
• Unaccompanied youth under 25 years of age, or families with children and youth, who do not otherwise qualify as homeless under this definition, but who:
  • Are defined as homeless under section 387 of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (42 U.S.C. 5732a), section 637 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9832), section 41403 of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14043e-2), section 330(h) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b(h)), section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012), section 17(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(b)), or section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a);
  • Have not had a lease, ownership interest, or occupancy agreement in permanent housing at any time during the 60 days immediately preceding the date of application for homeless assistance;
  • Have experienced persistent instability as measured by two moves or more during the 60-day period immediately preceding the date of applying for homeless assistance; and
  • Can be expected to continue in such status for an extended period of time because of chronic disabilities; chronic physical health or mental health conditions; substance addiction; histories of domestic violence or childhood abuse (including neglect); the presence of a child or youth with a disability; or two or more barriers to employment, which include the lack of a high school degree or General Education Development (GED), illiteracy, low English proficiency, a history of incarceration or detention for criminal activity, and a history of unstable

The meaning of “at-risk of homelessness” is as such term is defined in section 401(1) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360(1)), which is codified in HUD’s Continuum of Care Program regulations at 24 CFR 578.3 and reads as follows:

At risk of homelessness. (1) An individual or family who:

• Has an annual income below 30 percent of median family income for the area, as determined by HUD;

• Does not have sufficient resources or support networks, g., family, friends, faith-based or other social networks, immediately available to prevent them from moving to an emergency shelter or another place described in paragraph (1) of the “Homeless” definition above; and

• Meets one of the following conditions:

• Has moved because of economic reasons two or more times during the 60 days immediately preceding the application for homelessness prevention assistance;

• Is living in the home of another because of economic hardship;

• Has been notified in writing that their right to occupy their current housing or living situation will be terminated within 21 days of the date of application for assistance;

• Lives in a hotel or motel and the cost of the hotel or motel stay is not paid by charitable organizations or by federal, State, or local government programs for low-income individuals;

• Lives in a single-room occupancy or efficiency apartment unit in which there reside more than two persons, or lives in a larger housing unit in which there reside more than 1.5 people per room, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau;

• Is exiting a publicly funded institution, or system of care (such as a health-care facility, a mental health facility, foster care or other youth facility, or correction program or institution); or

• Otherwise lives in housing that has characteristics associated with instability and an increased risk of homelessness, as identified in the recipient's approved consolidated

• A child or youth who does not qualify as “homeless” under this section, but qualifies as “homeless” under section 387(3) of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (42 U.S.C. 5732a(3)), section 637(11) of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9832(11)), section 41403(6) of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (42

U.S.C. 14043e-2(6)), section 330(h)(5)(A) of the Public Health Service Act (42

U.S.C. 254b(h)(5)(A)), section 3(m) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7

U.S.C. 2012(m)), or section 17(b)(15) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42

U.S.C. 1786(b)(15)); or

• A child or youth who does not qualify as “homeless” under this section, but qualifies as “homeless” under section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)), and the parent(s) or guardian(s) of that child or youth if living with her or

This category is composed of any individual or family who is fleeing, or is attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking.

This includes cases where a HUD-assisted tenant reasonably believes that there is a threat of imminent harm from further violence if they remain within the same dwelling unit, or in the case of sexual assault, the HUD-assisted tenant reasonably believes there is a threat of imminent harm from further violence if they remain within the same dwelling unit that they are currently occupying, or the sexual assault occurred on the premise during the 90- day period preceding the date of the request for transfer.

Domestic violence includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by:

1. a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim (the term “spouse or intimate partner of the victim” includes a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim, as determined by the length of the relationship, the type of the relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship),

1. a person with whom the victim shares a child in common,
2. a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner,
3. a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction receiving grant monies, or
4. any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person's acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the

Dating violence means violence committed by a person:

1. Who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim; and
2. Where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors:
   1. The length of the relationship;
   2. The type of relationship; and
   3. The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the

Sexual assault means any nonconsensual sexual act proscribed by Federal, Tribal, or State law, including when the victim lacks capacity to consent.

Stalking means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to:

• Fear for the person’s individual safety or the safety of others; or
• Suffer substantial emotional

Human trafficking includes both sex and labor trafficking, as outlined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), as amended (22 U.S.C. § 7102). These are defined as:

Sex trafficking means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; (and)

Labor trafficking means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.