104 STAT. 4678 PUBLIC LAW 101-645—NOV. 29, 1990 ities, the elderly, and veterans intended to be served by a project; and "(ii) assists in accomplishing the purposes of the different t3T)es of housing for the homeless made eligible under this subtitle. "(B) The term includes— "(i) food services, child care, substance abuse treatment, assistance in obtaining permanent housing, outpatient health services, employment counseling, nutritional counseling, security arrangements for the protection of residents of facilities to assist the homeless, and such other services essential for maintaining or moving towards independent living as the Secretary determines to be appropriate; and "(ii) assistance to homeless persons in obtaining other Federal, State, and local assistance available for such individuals, including public assistance benefits, mental health benefits, employment counseling, and medical assistance. "(C) Such term does not include the provision of major medical equipment. "(D) AH or part of the supportive services may be provided directly by the project sponsor or by arrangements with other public or private service providers. "(17) The term 'unit of general local government' means smy city, town, township, county, parish, village, or other general purpose subdivision of a State; Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, the Marshall Islands, or a general purpose political subdivision thereof; a consortium; and any other territory or possession of the United States. "(18) The term 'consortium' means a group of geographically contiguous local governments that the Secretary determines— "(A) has sufficient authority and administrative capability to act on behalf of its member jurisdictions in carrying out the provisions of section 403(a); and "(B) is comprised only of jurisdictions that have received a formula allocation for the fiscal year. "(19) The term 'very low-income families' has the same mesming given the term under section 104 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act. "(20) The terms 'Indian tribe' and 'Indian housing authority' have the same meanings as in section 3 of the United States Housing Act of 1937. "SEC. 403. GENERAL AUTHORITY. "(a) GRANTS FOR HOMELESS HOUSING ASSISTANCE. — "(1) IN GENERAL. — "(A) GRANTS AUTHORIZED. —The Secretary shall, to the extent of amounts approved in appropriations Acts under section 408, make grants to States and units of general local government and to eligible applicants under section 405 in order to (i) carry out activities designed to meet the emergency, transitional, and permanent housing needs of the homeless, (ii) help very low-income families and persons avoid becoming homeless, and (iii) help homeless families and persons make the transition to permanent housing.
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