DHS outlines homelessness and housing bill to widen eligibility and increase transparency for housing support

Lorna Schmidt, legislative director for the Homelessness, Housing and Support Services Administration at the Department of Human Services, presented House File 4549 and summarized six proposals.

Schmidt said the bill makes a technical correction to the PATH program to ensure services for people with substance use disorder are eligible; would allow people with substance use disorder (without an identified co-occurring mental illness) to be eligible for housing-with-support programs; seeks to align application timelines for Minnesota Supplemental Aid with other cash assistance programs; proposes that agencies post Emergency General Assistance (EGA) policies centrally to increase transparency; and requires agencies to post and report on the process they use to review and approve housing-support agreements with providers to improve oversight and program integrity. The bill also proposes repealing a statutory homeless-youth report that DHS now views as duplicative alongside other data sources.

Members asked whether counties had been consulted and what additional reporting would cost; Schmidt said DHS had engaged counties, reported no opposition to the proposals and said the department intends reporting to be minimally burdensome while improving transparency and provider oversight. Members expressed differing views about repealing the youth report; one lawmaker cautioned that point-in-time counts and other sources are not perfect substitutes and urged care in removing statutory reporting without ensuring sustained funding for comparable data collection.

Representative Noor renewed the motion and HF4549 was laid over for possible inclusion.