In 1987, Congress passed the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which removed the requirement that applicants to the Food Stamp Program provide a permanent address, reflecting a new consensus that the growing numbers of unhoused Americans deserved nutrition benefits. As American businesses sent production overseas in the 1980’s, a wave of factory closures left millions unemployed, particularly among communities of color. Demand for low-cost housing surged, but the Reagan administration had ended the federal programs that funded public housing. And nationwide, the government reversed policies that required institutionalization of those suffering with substance abuse and mental illness, which forced more people onto the streets and into poverty.