Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance
committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports
if they are used for other purposes.
Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are a vailable on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).
Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not. Previously issued FIRs and
attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.
F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR HHGAC
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/16/07
HB 172/HHGACS
SHORT TITLE Statewide Homeless Programs
SB
ANALYST Lucero
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
$500.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates to HB149, HB940, HM18, SB1037, SB171, SB583, SB586, SB804, SB982
Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Human Services Department (HSD)
Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD)
Public Education Department (PED)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Health and Government Affairs Committee Substitute for House Bill 172 appropriates
five hundred thousand ($500,000) from the general fund to Human Services Department for
expenditure in fiscal year 2008 to expand funding for homeless programs statewide.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of five hundred thousand ($500,000) contained in this bill is a recurring
expense to the general fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of
fiscal year 2008 shall revert to the general fund.
This appropriation is not part of HSD’s FY 2008 budget request and is not included in the
Executive recommendation for HSD.
pg_0002
House Bill 172/HHGACS – Page
2
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
By law, HSD is the single agency authorized to receive yearly state Homeless Funding for
shelters and meals. Each year, HSD’s proposed budget includes a request for a recurring sum of
$750,000 in its base budget for the state-funded Homeless Shelter Program and $200,000 for the
state-funded Homeless Meal Program. In addition, the New Mexico Mortgage Finance (MFA) is
authorized per Executive Order 97-01 to administer all Homeless shelter programs’ funding in
New Mexico. HSD complies each year by transferring the funds via a Joint Powers Agreement
(JPA) with MFA to provide the State Homeless Shelter services statewide. The Homeless Meals
Programs are also contracted each year to designated Meals Programs statewide.
This bill does not specify program services, the numbers to be served, any performance
outcomes and the method of the funding distribution.
HSD administers these funds by passing 100% of the appropriation to the designated agencies
and keeps no funds for administration.
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
In order to ensure New Mexico’s homeless children and youths have access to education and
other services needed to meet the state’s academic standards, barriers must be lifted to school
selection, transportation, school records, immunizations or other medical records, lack of
affordable housing, long wait lists for public housing and medical care for undocumented
children and the unaccompanied youth. Expanding funding for homelessness programs statewide
may assist youth in meeting the academic standards and potentially close the achievement gap.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
If passed, CS/HB 172 HSD will need to cover administrative costs associated with the expansion
of these services.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
Relates to HB149, HB940, HM18, SB1037, SB171, SB583, SB586, SB804, SB982
TECHNICAL ISSUES
None identified at this time
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
According to New Mexico’s Coalition to End Homelessness:
http://pages.prodigy.net/bonneyh/pages/pg3_homelessness.html
Based on the Coalition’s 2005 homeless count, there are at least 17,000 homeless people in New
Mexico over the course of a year.
Homelessness is caused by poverty and a lack of affordable housing. Homelessness has grown
dramatically since the 1970’s due primarily to the steady decrease in public benefits for people
pg_0003
House Bill 172/HHGACS – Page
3
living in poverty including welfare payments and public housing. In part because of the decrease
in spending for public housing, there has been a steady decline in affordable housing. According
to the National Coalition to End Homelessness, between 1970 and 1995, the gap between the
number of low-income renters and the amount of affordable housing units in the U.S. went from
almost no gap to a shortage of 4.4 million affordable housing units.
Homelessness in New Mexico is different in some ways from homelessness in other parts of the
United States. One difference is that in urban areas homeless people who are not in shelters
sleep in cars, abandoned buildings, and empty lots. In New Mexico homeless people use all of
these places but they also camp out in the wide open spaces. This use of open space means that
homeless people are somewhat less visible in New Mexico than in a more urban states In
Southern New Mexico many of the homeless are immigrants and migrant workers. In
northwestern New Mexico known as Indian Country, many of the homeless are Native
Americans.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness called "Homelessness Counts," recently released its
first national estimate of the homeless population in a decade. It states that 744,313 people were
homeless in January 2005. Of these, 41 percent were living in families (
www.naeh.org
).
This HSD program will have an indirect link in addressing student health, wellness and academic
achievement, which help to ensure that all homeless children and youth have equal access to the
same free and appropriate public education, including public preschool education, provided to
other children and youth.
Children and youths have to be free from segregation, isolation and stigmatization (Title VII-B
of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 USC 11431 et seq.).
Children and youths have to have comparable access to school meals, English language services,
vocational and technical education, special education (including gifted) and Title 1 services
(Title VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 USC 11431 et seq.).
•
The 2005-06 PED’s data collection report to the federal government included 4,966
reported homeless children and youth that where served by the McKinney-Vento
Homeless Education Program.
•
Barriers to the education of New Mexico homeless children and youth include: school
selection, transportation, school records, immunization/medical records, and lack of
affordable housing (2005-06 New Mexico’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth
Program data collection).
•
Homeless children get sick four times as often as children in middle class families (Kids’
Corner: Facts about homelessness,
http://www.nationalhomeless.org
).
•
Homeless children go hungry twice as often as other children (Kids’ Corner: Facts about
homelessness,
http://www.nationalhomeless.org
).
•
Homeless children have more mental health problems than other children, but less than
one-third receives treatment (Kids’ Corner: Facts about homelessness,
http://www.nationalhomeless.org
).
•
Most homeless families are made up of a young, single mother and two young children.
A worker earning minimum wage would have to work 97 hours a week to pay the rent of
pg_0004
House Bill 172/HHGACS – Page
4
an average two-bedroom apartment (Kids’ Corner: Facts about homelessness,
http://www.nationalhomeless.org
).
The waiting period for public housing averages one to two years. For programs that help to pay
for part of the families’ rent, the wait is even longer (Kids’ Corner: Facts about homelessness,
http://www.nationalhomeless.org
).
ALTERNATIVES
None identified at this time
WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL
Expansion for homeless programs statewide may not be provided. This program has an indirect
link to addressing the student health, wellness and academic achievement of homeless children.
DL/csd