Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 965) to amend section 3(b)(4) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 to exclude certain disability benefits from income for the purposes of determining eligibility for the supported housing program under section 8(o)(19), and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 965, the Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act introduced by my colleague on the Financial Services Committee, Congressman Brad Sherman of California.

Much like the bill that we just considered a few minutes ago from our friend from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz), I want to start out by commending our colleague from California for his work on this related issue that once again speaks to the fairness in HUD programs on behalf of our Nation's veterans.

The Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, or HUD-VASH, program was created back in 1992. The purpose was to assist homeless veterans with psychiatric and substance abuse disorders.

The VASH program is an important Federal tool that provides housing assistance and supportive services for low-income veterans experiencing homelessness. Of course, it might seem redundant to some that a program to help homeless veterans would be geared towards those who are low- income, but sometimes with HUD nothing is ever simple.

Much like how HUD treats service-connected disability compensation of veterans as income in its CDBG program, HUD treats any disability benefits a veteran receives under chapter 11 or chapter 15 of title 38 of the U.S. Code as income under HUD-VASH.

A predictable result is some disabled homeless veterans are blocked from using a program to help all homeless veterans because HUD has decided that those low-income veterans that are disabled are too wealthy to qualify. Sound familiar? This is exactly the debate we had a few minutes ago.

Mr. Speaker, someone always has to explain these government bureaucratic messes to me because they never make any common sense.

The reform we are talking about today offered by Mr. Sherman fixes this problem. It reforms the HUD income calculation used in the HUD- VASH program to ensure that the disability payments of a low-income veteran do not exclude them from accessing this housing support.

The bill goes on to say that HUD needs to adopt the same income calculation standard for any future veteran housing program it might create using HUD-owned property. I applaud my colleague for calling attention to this problem and for his bipartisan work to find a solution.

While this may seem like an easy fix, this is Washington. There are no easy fixes, and HUD has consistently placed bureaucratic obstacles in the way of program efficiency time and time again.

In fact, when Representative Sherman brought this up last year to the Secretary of HUD, he got the same answer that Representative De La Cruz got on her veterans CDBG income question: Hey, that is Congress' job to fix it, not HUD's.

Fix it, indeed we will. The approach the gentleman has taken in crafting this bill is a good one. It is one that will make a big difference in the HUD-VASH program, as well as: How about making a difference for the veterans who are eligible to use it? That is why we are on this House floor.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Sherman for his hard work to honor the promises that we have made to our veterans. I urge bipartisan support of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz), who has done so much to advance these reforms in HUD and our committee. We are grateful for her leadership.

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

I thank Mr. Sherman for his good work on this and his partnership with Ms. De La Cruz of Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I also express my deep empathy and support of Representative Sherman, Representative Chu, Representative Kim, and others in the L.A. basin who are coping with the horrendous results and tragedy connected with the fires at Pacific Palisades and elsewhere where some 45,000 California homes were destroyed in just the blink of an eye and lives lost.

I thank Mr. Sherman for his focus on housing the least fortunate, our veterans, but also I know that he is concerned about what is going to happen in the months ahead as southern California recovers.

In this regard, Mr. Speaker, we will have a bipartisan roundtable tomorrow in the House Financial Services Committee where Members on both sides of the aisle will talk with experts about how best to improve resilience and think through recovery for southern California.

I thank my colleagues for their bipartisan work on H.R. 965. I urge a ``yes'' vote on both sides of the aisle, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, these are two companion bills. It has been good working with her. My hope is that we not only pass both these bills today unanimously but that we actually get the Senate to act.

There is nothing more shameful than a homeless, disabled American veteran, one who has lost a limb defending us and now living on the streets.

There are two programs to focus on that are designed to provide housing for the unhoused. The De La Cruz bill, which I was proud to be the chief Democratic advocate of, dealt with the CDBG program. This bill deals with a joint program between HUD and the veterans administration, HUD and the VA, and that is why the bill's title spells out HUDVA.

The issue, again, is how do we define income for eligibility for housing. Certainly we should change that definition when it applies to veterans' housing for veterans on veterans' land.

The worst thing we could do is exclude disabled veterans. This is particularly true because perhaps the most significant parcel that this will affect is in my district, and it is the largest VA hospital in the West. What better place for disabled veterans to live when they need often hospital care than to live right there at the hospital.

This bill amends the HUD definition of annual income to exclude disability payments received by a veteran for eligibility purposes for housing under the HUDVA Supportive Housing program.

Last year, HUD, in a major victory for us, did decide to exclude disability benefits from this definition. It is now, I think, necessary for us to make that a statutory change so that it doesn't change with this or that administration.

Now, to qualify, as I have said, the central issue is whether VA disability benefits count as income. The Internal Revenue Code excludes them from that definition of income. As I said, in talking about the gentlewoman from Texas' bill, if you are disabled and you have disability benefits, those benefits don't necessarily raise your standard of living and raise your income from that standpoint when you have to spend your disability benefits on, for example, home healthcare, the additional cost of living with a disability, et cetera.

The HUD-VASH program is designed to provide rental assistance. The inclusion of disability benefits in the annual income calculation excludes veterans who are disabled from living at a VA hospital land or part of a complex that includes a VA hospital. This legislation would address this problem.

The bill is supported by virtually all the veterans support organizations, such as VFW, Vietnam Veterans of America, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, U.S. Vets, and Black Veterans Empowerment Council.

The bill is also supported by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, because it is mayors, after all, who have to deal with the homeless and particularly homeless veterans in their cities.

This bill had 101 cosponsors last Congress and substantial bipartisan support in this Congress. I am pleased to have the co-leadership of Ms. De La Cruz from Texas. It has a zero Congressional Budget Office score, so it does nothing to increase our deficit.

The recent wildfires in my area also exemplify this in that the VA hospital that I referred to is right there close to where these fires broke out.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to passing this bill and to persuade the Senate to do so as well.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 965, the Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act sponsored by Representative Sherman. I thank Mr. Sherman for his work on this bipartisan bill which ensure homeless veterans, including those who may have higher incomes due to their disability benefits, can access supportive housing through the HUD-VASH program.

However, an important distinction in this bill will expand access to housing for more disabled veterans who are experiencing homelessness, while preserving limited rental assistance for those with the lowest incomes.

I also want to take this opportunity to talk about the importance of preserving the HUD-VASH program as the Trump administration threatens to trample on Congress' constitutional powers of the purse by freezing Federal funds that have already been designed and designated for the American people.

HUD-VASH is arguably the most successful Federal homeless program to date. In fact, under the Biden administration, Democrats were successful in lowering veteran homelessness to its lowest level ever on record. That is what we can get done when we prioritize housing for people, not profit.

HUD-VASH is the only Federal program that is built to end veteran homelessness through the Housing First approach, which Republicans have time and time again tried to discredit. Housing First works because it solves the root of the homelessness crisis, which is a lack of affordable housing.

Specifically, the program ensures people who are experiencing homelessness can first get off the street and into stable housing where they are then supported with wraparound services, such as case management, job training, healthcare services, and more. If Housing First works to help end veteran homelessness, it can work for everyone else, too.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill and look forward to a more bipartisan effort to scale up proven Housing First solutions to end homelessness nationwide.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), who is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, who is the sponsor of this bill.

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

I would again thank Congressman Sherman for working across the aisle, in particular with Representative De La Cruz from Texas on her companion bill, to make sure our Nation's HUD-VASH program works as effectively as possible.

This bill is a step forward in ensuring that every veteran who is experiencing homelessness can access the supportive housing they need, facilitating their successful reintegration into civilian life.

This is especially true for disabled veterans who experience unique barriers to housing that is inaccessible and increasingly unaffordable.

With this bill, we can assure and ensure disabled veterans have the resources they need to lead stable, fulfilling lives after their invaluable service to our Nation.

Again, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.

I rise in support of H.R. 965, the bipartisan Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act, which I am proud to co-lead.

Our veterans, particularly disabled veterans, have sacrificed immensely for our Nation. Unfortunately, when they return home, they are met with unnecessary bureaucracy and government overregulation.

Though we can never repay them for their sacrifice, we can show gratitude by ensuring that bureaucratic obstacles do not stand in the way of veterans receiving the support they need.

H.R. 965 will make certain that disability benefits received by a veteran are not counted against a veteran seeking housing assistance under the HUD-VASH program.

These programs are intended to help veterans, so let us ensure that we do all we can to ensure they achieve that mission by enacting commonsense measures.

I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan solution to ensure those that sacrificed so much for this great country are not penalized for benefits they have earned through their selfless service.