Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Programs Reauthorization Act of 2018

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4451) to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a five-year extension to the homeless veterans reintegration programs and to provide clarification regarding eligibility for services under such programs, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material into the Record on H.R. 4451, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4451, as amended. This bill would reauthorize the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program, known as HVRP, and Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless Veterans With Children Reintegration Grant Program, through fiscal year 2022.

These are grant programs managed by the U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans Employment and Training Service. Grants are made generally to nonprofit, community-based organizations to fund efforts to train and place homeless veterans in jobs.

This has been a highly successful program that puts homeless veterans back on the path to self-reliance and sustainability and is worthy of Congress' continued support and funding.

This bill would also clarify that homeless veterans who are eligible for other federally funded homeless veteran programs are also eligible to receive training and employment services provided by grantees through HVRP and HVRP-W.

I believe that expanding eligibility for HVRP and HVRP-W will provide participants in these programs better access to job training programs that can help homeless veterans on their path to sustainable employment and positive outcomes. This expansion would also occur without impacting current authorization levels for this program.

I want to thank Congressman Wenstrup and Congresswoman Brownley for introducing this must-pass bill, which has my full support.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4451, as amended, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup), who is my Health Subcommittee chair.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this piece of legislation.

When I came to Congress in 2009, there were over 100,0000 homeless veterans in the United States. General Shinseki, our Secretary at that time, set out to eliminate veteran homelessness in the next 6 or 7 years. It was a very ambitious task. Great progress has been made.

I have visited the West L.A. campus and seen what they are doing in Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. As my good friend, Tim Walz, said, one homeless veteran is one too many.

For people who may be watching this today, we as a country are providing HUD-VASH vouchers for veterans who can use these, along with a case manager. But that is only part of it. Many of these veterans have many other issues and there are other programs that need to be available for these men

and women who find themselves in this situation. This is one of them where you can access job training so you can get a meaningful job and take care of yourself. Actually, I think this program and the other one end up paying for themselves over time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to encourage my colleagues to support this, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4451, the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Programs Reauthorization Act.

I thank the gentleman from Ohio, the chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Health Subcommittee, for partnering with me to introduce this important legislation.

Our Nation's servicemembers undertake enormous sacrifices every day to keep us safe, and we must ensure they can smoothly transition back into civilian life when they come home. Unfortunately, however, too many of our returning servicemembers are struggling with homelessness.

In 2017, HUD's annual survey found that veteran homelessness increased by 1.5 percent after years of declining percentages. Los Angeles County, which I represent a part of, saw a 57 percent increase in the number of homeless veterans just in the past year.

While our local partners are committed to working together with the VA and other Federal agencies to ensure all veterans have access to safe and affordable housing, clearly, we need to be using every tool in our toolbox to end veteran homelessness completely. That means supporting both the housing programs and wraparound services necessary to heal and to house our veterans.

Today's legislation will allow veterans who have struggled with homelessness to remain eligible for job services while utilizing VA housing programs. This will help more veterans break the cycle of homelessness, support themselves and their families, and get back on their feet.

Again, I thank the chairman for championing this issue together, and the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans for highlighting this problem in testimony before the committee, and for their support of the bill.

I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4451, Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Programs Reauthorization Act of 2017.

H.R. 4451 proposes an amendment to Title 38 of the United States Code to provide for a five-year extension to homeless veterans reintegration programs and to provide clarification regarding eligibility for services under such programs.

This bill includes the reauthorization of reintegration programs among those for whom job training, counseling, and placement services are to be provided to expedite their reintegration into the labor force.

These services provided to homeless veterans include the VA supported housing program, assistance under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996, transitioning from being incarcerated, and participating in the VA's rapid re-housing and homelessness prevention program.

Mr. Speaker, our United States veterans bravely put their lives on the line to defend our freedoms and to keep our nation safe.

Without the brave efforts of all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and Coast Guardsmen and women and their families, our country would not live so freely.

Homelessness among the American veteran population is on the rise in the United States and we must be proactive in giving back to those who have given so much to us.

We as a nation have a responsibility to our veterans to provide programs that aid in their reintegration back into the labor force.

Nearly 230,000 veterans and their families have been able to come back from homeless and find permanent homes since 2010.

By passing H.R. 4451, homeless veterans will receive assistance to enhance their quality of life and community integration.

I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for H.R. 4451.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague and Chairman Roe for yielding.

In November of last year, I joined my colleague and the ranking member of the Health Subcommittee, Representative Brownley, in reintroducing H.R. 4451, the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Programs Reauthorization Act.

This bill would provide much-needed services to our veterans transitioning out of homelessness and ensure no veteran falls through unintended legislative gaps in programs. We do this by reauthorizing through fiscal year 2022 the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, along with programs designed for female homeless veterans and homeless veterans with children. Additionally, the bill would clarify that those eligible for housing assistance from either a Federal or non-Federal entity are also eligible for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program.

Currently, a gap arises because the Department of Labor considers veterans participating in these housing assistance programs to no longer be defined as homeless. As such, they are unable to participate in the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program, a program that provides vital employment assistance and training.

By prioritizing the reintegration of homeless and recently homeless veterans, we will empower our veterans to reenter the workforce and help them regain self-sufficiency.

Our veterans have sacrificed so much for our country, and we must ensure that they have the tools to succeed in civilian life.

I am proud of Chairman Roe's and the House Veterans' Affairs Committee's commitment to reducing veteran homelessness, and I believe that this legislation only further supports this committee's goals.

I urge all my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4451, and thank the gentleman and everyone involved in this piece of legislation. Veteran homelessness, combating it and reducing it to zero, has been a focus of this committee for many years.

Direct services provided by HVRP include placement, skills training, job development, career counseling, and resume writing. It is the only nationwide program focused on assisting homeless veterans in reintegrating into the workforce. This is incredibly important because reintegrating homeless veterans into the workforce is the best way to ensure that they do not reenter homelessness again.

This would reauthorize the program for 5 years. Reducing veteran homelessness remains our priority. I believe this piece of legislation will get us there.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Brownley), my good friend. She is a true champion of veterans and is the conscience on this issue in our committee of alleviating veterans' homelessness.

Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio and the gentlewoman from California for addressing this. It is a smart move to do this, continuing to keep our focus. While our numbers are improving in areas, we know this is a zero-sum proposition. Any veteran on the street is one too many. So I appreciate any effort that is made. This is a good piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage a ``yes'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.