|
Estimates 225,000 veterans homeless in typical day; Bill emphasizes prevention,
reintegration to labor force
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Featuring up to 2,000 new low-income housing vouchers, increased grants, inter-agency coordination, and renewed emphasis on existing
programs, House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Chris Smith (NJ-4) introduced Thursday the Homeless Veterans Assistance Act of 2001, H.R. 2716.
"There are an estimated 225,000 veterans who are homeless each and every night,"
Smith said. "For these veterans, access to VA benefits, specialized services and
effective outreach are vital components to any hope of individual stability and
improvement in their prospects."
"My legislation, H.R. 2716, puts some teeth in existing programs for homeless
veterans and creates new ones to re-integrate them into their communities,"
Smith said. "The key provision would authorize 500 'Section 8' housing vouchers
in fiscal year 2002, increasing the totals to 1,000 in 2003, 1,500 in 2004, and
2,000 in 2005. This is an expansion of the very successful HUD-VASH (HUD Veterans Affairs Supported Housing) program."
"This legislation would also provide $60 million in fiscal year 2002 for the VA's Homeless Grant and Per Diem Program, and $75 million annually in fiscal years
2003-2005," Smith said. "It would also authorize the VA Secretary to award
$250,000 in grants of up to $5,000 each for community-based efforts to assist
veterans recovering from alcohol or substance abuse."
In coordination with VA case managers HUD would provide housing vouchers to
homeless veterans who are receive and agree to continue VA care, especially for
mental illness or substance abuse disorders. Smith's bill would require VA case
managers to administer the HUD-VASH program. The bill would also:
· Authorize $5 million for both fiscal years 2003 and 2004 to support expanding
domiciliary care for homeless veterans through the establishment of 10 new
Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans programs;
· Strengthen the requirement that the Department of Labor's Homeless Veterans
Reintegration Program (HVRP) assist the return of homeless veterans to the labor
force through training and counseling;
· Direct the VA to expand contracts with community agencies that serve veterans
incompetent to manage their own financial affairs;
· Encourage the Secretaries of HUD and VA to consult closely to assure accurate
reporting of homeless veterans' demands for services and to make sure grant and
contract recipients of government funding know their responsibilities toward
homeless veterans, and;
· Direct the Secretaries of Labor and VA to undertake a six-site demonstration
program of referrals and counseling for about-to-be-freed incarcerated veterans.
"Many problems and difficulties among homeless veterans could be traced to an
individual's experience in military service, exposure to combat, or return to a
seemingly uncaring civilian society," Smith said. "In fact, we know that a
majority of homeless veterans today suffer from serious mental illness, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, substance abuse problems
often complicate their situations."
"While the VA offers a broad array of medical services to veterans through VA
medical facilities, without better coordination of federal programs relief for
some of our veterans may only temporary," said Smith. "Far too often veterans
released from VA health care are exposed to the same challenges that created
mthese conditions in the first place. That's why prevention and accountability
are the crucial to our legislation," he said.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Please visit http://veterans.house.gov, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs web site, named 'One of the Best Web Sites in Congress' by the Congressional Management Foundation, May 3, 1999.
|
