
          Ruling in McKinney Surplus Property Case
          By StaffStaff
          Vol. 11, No. 4, 1989, p. 23
          
          A homeless support group in Huntsville, Ala., has lost a federal
court action aimed at forcing the U.S. Navy to make an unused
warehouse available for shelter. However, the judge's ruling does
establish a government obligation to make underutilized federal
properties available to the homeless under the McKinney Homeless
Assistance Act.
          Judge Oliver Gash ruled in National Coalition for
the Homeless, et al., v. Veterans Administration, et al., that
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was violating the
McKinney Act by failing to process applications from groups seeking to
use "underutilized" federal property for shelters or housing for the
homeless. HHS had maintained that its only responsibility was for
"surplus" property and that other agencies had to process applications
for property they still owned but were not using, thus frustrating
applications from support groups interested in using the properties
under the McKinney Act.
          The Gash ruling is considered a step forward by housing activists,
even though in the Huntsville case the judge ruled that the Navy
property in question was on land owned by the City of Huntsville and
the Navy was thus justified in turning the building on the site over
to the City.
        