Free Surplus Government Property May be Available in Your Area

Could your organization use more space or a different location? Two laws make vacant federal property available for free to nonprofit organizations for the purpose of assisting homeless persons.

Surplus Federal Property:

Under Title V of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the federal government is required to make vacant federal property available to nonprofits at no cost for use in assisting homeless persons.  If your group is interested:

• First, see whether there are any properties available in your area. Leave a message on the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)'s toll-free voicemail and someone from HUD will call you back.
  
• If there is suitable, available property, you can apply to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to obtain the property. If there are no properties listed but you know of federal property sitting vacant in your area, please let us know and we can check whether it is available under the Title V process.
• For more information on the Title V process, download NLCHP's Surplus Property fact sheet here. You can also email us with any questions.
  

Surplus Military Property:

The Base Closure Act (BCCRHAA) allows nonprofits to obtain buildings, land, or other resources at closing military bases for free to use in assisting homeless persons.

• To determine whether there are any available base closure properties in your area, visit this website. If a base has "close" listed in the "Action" column, it may be eligible for homeless uses.
• For detailed information on the BCCRHAA process, download a free copy of NLCHP's Base Closure Toolkit here.