New regs for Friday: Homeless, human resources, minimum wage

Friday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new protections for homeless people, reporting requirements for federal agencies, minimum wage standards for federal contractors.

Here’s what is happening:

Homeless: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is moving forward with new protections for homeless people.

HUD is issuing a new definition for people who are “chronically homeless” to help determine who qualifies for the agency’s housing programs. 

To be considered chronically homeless, a person or their family must be homeless for at least one year, or in several occasions over the last three years, the agency said.

“‘Chronically homeless’ is defined … as an individual or family that is homeless and resides in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter,” HUD wrote.

The changes go into effect in 30 days.

Human resources: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is dropping reporting requirements for federal agencies.

Federal agencies will no longer be required to submit reports about their human resources management programs, OPM announced Thursday.

The changes go into effect in 30 days.

Minimum wage: The Department of Defense is codifying a higher minimum wage for employees of federal contractors.

As a condition of contracting with the federal government, contractors must pay their employees no less than $10.10 an hour.

The policy is already in place under an interim rule, but the Defense Department, along with the General Services Administration and NASA, is moving forward with a final rule on minimum wage.

The rule goes into effect immediately.