ms. foscarinis -- ms. foscarinis, i'm sorry. >> from our perspective, the brac process is quite different from what is being proposed currently. it has provisions for the consideration of homeless people. it is written into the law that the needs of homeless members of a given community must be considered in disposing of the base property. representatives of homeless people must also be part of that process and hud must oversee the disposal of property in order to ensure that the needs of homeless people are dressed. that is very different. all of those protections are missing from the administration's current proposal. >> one more question. mr. baxa, you recommend that we consider -- something i got to know well. you say we should consider this to help with the surplus. drill down on that idea. describe how that might be favored to a civilian brac process. >> if you look at what happened on the defense side, most of the agencies had to -- the services had to have their own offices to dispose of these. we d

ms. foscarinis. >> thank you very much. chairman carper, ranking member brown, members of the subcommittee, i appreciate the opportunity to testify today. i am the executive director of the national law center on homelessness and poverty. our mission is to serve as the legal arm of the nationwide movement to prevent homelessness in america. each year more than 3 million americans experience homelessness, including 1.3 million children. these numbers have increased as a result of the recession and foreclosure crisis. in fact, the u.s. conference of mayors estimated a 9% increase in family homelessness in 2010 alone. over 70% of the official survey for the report expect family and child homelessness to increase further during the coming year. the united states government has committed itself to ending homelessness. just a year ago the u.s. interagency council on homelessness released opening doors, the federal strategic plan to end and prevent homelessness. the plans central belief is that no one should experience homelessnes