WASHINGTON, DC - Today at a White House meeting with several members of President Obama's cabinet, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) applauded the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) for releasing the nation's first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness titled "Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness."

Reed is the author of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, which President Obama signed into law in May of 2009. In addition to boosting targeted homelessness assistance and prevention grant programs, Reed's legislation mandated that USICH -- which includes 19 different federal agencies and entities such as HUD and the VA -- produce a "national strategic plan" to end homelessness to Congress.

Each night, 640,000 men, women, and children in the United States are without housing.

Reed, a senior member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Development Committee, issued the following statement:

"Homelessness is a national problem and ending it will take national leadership and better coordination on the federal, state, and local level. I think this is a comprehensive action plan. And now it has to be implemented.

"The Obama Administration's level of engagement on this issue from the top down has been unprecedented. We need greater inter-agency coordination to prevent Americans from falling through the cracks and becoming homeless. And we must ensure that innovative, local homelessness prevention programs have the support they need.

"The reasons people become homeless are unique, but the challenge we face to end and prevent homelessness is shared.

"We are all in this together, and I applaud the Obama Administration for offering a national strategy to streamline the response to combating homelessness in a more targeted and efficient manner.

"The plan is a crucial step, but in order to have a lasting impact it needs sufficient resources.

"The HEARTH Act requires an annual update to this strategic plan. We need to measure the results to understand where we are succeeding, where we can do better, and how we can most effectively target our resources to prevent and end homelessness.

"This is a great first step, and I am anxious to see even more progress."