[Senate Hearing 111-497]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-497
ENDING VETERANS' HOMELESSNESS
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
of the
COMMITTEE ON
BANKING,HOUSING,AND URBAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
EXAMINING THE ENDING OF VETERANS' HOMELESSNESS
__________
NOVEMBER 10, 2009
__________
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COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut, Chairman
TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama
JACK REED, Rhode Island ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York JIM BUNNING, Kentucky
EVAN BAYH, Indiana MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey BOB CORKER, Tennessee
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
JON TESTER, Montana MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas
MARK R. WARNER, Virginia JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado
Edward Silverman, Staff Director
William D. Duhnke, Republican Staff Director
Dawn Ratliff, Chief Clerk
Devin Hartley, Hearing Clerk
Shelvin Simmons, IT Director
Jim Crowell, Editor
______
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey, Chairman
DAVID VITTER, Louisiana, Ranking Republican Member
TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas
JACK REED, Rhode Island MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York BOB CORKER, Tennessee
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska
JOHN TESTER, Montana JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin
MARK R. WARNER, Virginia
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
Michael Passante, Transit Staff Director
Harold J. Connolly, Housing Staff Director
Beth Cooper, Professional Staff Member
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009
Page
Opening statement of Chairman Menendez........................... 1
Opening statements, comments, or prepared statements of:
Senator Akaka................................................ 3
Senator Reed................................................. 3
Senator Tester............................................... 4
Senator Schumer.............................................. 5
Chairman Dodd
Prepared statement....................................... 32
WITNESSES
Mercedes Marquez, Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and
Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development....... 7
Prepared statement........................................... 32
Responses to written questions of:
Senator Vitter........................................... 49
Peter H. Dougherty, Director of Homeless Veterans Programs,
Department of Veterans Affairs................................. 9
Prepared statement........................................... 35
Melanie Lilliston, Director of Technical Assistance and Finance,
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans....................... 19
Prepared statement........................................... 39
Responses to written questions of:
Senator Vitter........................................... 49
Steven R. Berg, Vice President for Programs and Policy, National
Alliance To End Homelessness................................... 21
Prepared statement........................................... 42
Jack S. Fanous, Executive Director and Founder, G.I. Go Fund..... 23
Prepared statement........................................... 45
Lila M. Guy, Iraq War Veteran.................................... 25
Prepared statement........................................... 47
William Wise, Vietnam War Veteran................................ 26
Prepared statement........................................... 48
(iii)
ENDING VETERANS' HOMELESSNESS
----------
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community
Development,
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met at 10:05 a.m., in room SD-538, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Senator Robert Menendez (Chairman of
the Subcommittee), presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN ROBERT MENENDEZ
Chairman Menendez. This hearing of the Subcommittee on
Housing, Transportation, and Community Development will come to
order.
Our first order of business, I would ask all of us to take
a moment of silence to remember the soldiers who were
tragically killed and wounded at Fort Hood.
[Pause.]
Chairman Menendez. Thank you. Our hearts go out to them and
to their families today as they and many from across the
country attend a memorial service in Texas.
Let me say, we decided to stay and move forward with this
hearing to honor all those veterans to whom we owe so much and
who deserve the full attention of a grateful Nation. Having
said that, let me welcome our distinguished panelists this
morning. I would also especially like to recognize two veterans
who will be on our second panel this morning, Ms. Lila Guy, a
veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Philadelphia, who I
know has a compelling story to tell, and Mr. William Wise from
Winslow, New Jersey, who served in Vietnam and was himself
homeless for a time after his return. We look forward to
hearing their firsthand testimony on the pressures on returning
veterans and the thin line that exists between survival and
despair.
To me, the crisis we face is no less than a national
disgrace represented by the haunting image of 131,000 veterans
on the streets of America on any given night. A hundred-and-
thirty-one-thousand men and women who served this Nation in
uniform, American heroes huddled over a heating grate in the
shadow of the Washington Monument, or curled up on a bench by
the war memorials on the Mall in Washington, or trying to find
shelter in cities across America.
What is more troubling than the images is the statistics.
The VA estimates more than 260,000 veterans will be homeless at
some point during the course of a given year, and a staggering
25 percent of all homeless in this country--one in four--are
veterans. With increasing numbers of veterans coming back from
Iraq and Afghanistan last year, the number of veteran families
that found themselves homeless increased 24 percent because of
difficult economic times.
We also know that nearly 600,000 veterans who do have
housing are paying more than 50 percent--50 percent--of their
monthly income in rent, and may well be at risk of becoming
homeless in the next year.
The Federal Government, in my view, is not doing nearly
enough when so many new veterans are falling through the
cracks. These new veterans are facing a range of issues that
veterans of other wars have not faced. They have difficulty
reintegrating. Like many Americans, they can't find a job. They
can't find decent, affordable housing. And the current system
of dealing with their needs is being overwhelmed. I think we
can say with certainty that veterans' homelessness is a
national disgrace and we need to address it.
Now, last week, Secretary Shinseki began to do just that.
He outlined a 5-year plan, which I hope we will discuss today.
Secretary Shinseki addressed a wide range of issues, everything
from supportive services for low-income veterans to the Post-9/
11 G.I. Bill. Also last week, the VA and DOD cosponsored a
summit to coordinate the need to aggressively diagnose and
treat the unseen but devastating wounds of war that all too
often lead to homelessness. These are positive steps, but I am
looking forward to learning from our panelists what more steps
we can take and what our priorities should be.
I am pleased to say that Congress has been proactive on
veterans' homelessness. Senator Schumer and Senator Jack Reed
have both worked tirelessly on this issue. Senator Schumer's
Home for Heroes Act and Senator Reed's Zero Tolerance for
Veterans Homeless Act focus a laser-sharp light on veterans'
homelessness and all the accompanying issues that have forced a
growing number of veterans to live on the street.
So let me conclude by saying what I said at the outset. I
am haunted by the image of homeless veterans sleeping in our
cities every night, men and women who wore the uniform and
bravely stood a post in some far-off land in the middle of the
night. And I am haunted to think that they now come home, some
here to Washington, only to spend their nights in the shadow of
the very monuments to freedom, justice, and equality for which
they fought, looking for help and a little help, perhaps lost,
but certainly not forgotten by a grateful Nation.
So I want to thank our witnesses for joining us today. We
look forward to a productive hearing that we will then build
upon to seek legislative results.
And with that, let me recognize Senator Akaka, who has done
so much work in this regard as the Chairman of the Veterans
Affairs Committee, and we appreciate his leadership, and, of
course, as a Member of this Committee, combines two very
powerful opportunities to help our homeless veterans. Senator
Akaka.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR DANIEL K. AKAKA
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Chairman Menendez, for
having this very important hearing on homelessness today. I
really appreciate, Mr. Chairman, your interest in the issue.
I also greatly admire Secretary Shinseki's commitment to
ending homelessness. As the Chairman mentioned, Secretary
Shinseki has a plan to work on homelessness in the period of 5
years and is proceeding quickly on that.
As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, I
have worked to strengthen VA's homelessness and housing
programs. Currently on the Senate calendar is my Caregivers and
Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009. As you know, we
have been trying to have it on the floor to work on, and we
haven't been able to do it because one of the members of the
Senate has been holding it up. Title VII of the legislation
contains a number of provisions designed to enhance and improve
VA efforts to address the overall problem and to provide
assistance to homeless veterans.
Additionally, a few weeks ago, the Senate Committee on
Veterans Affairs held a hearing on pending legislation which
highlighted a bill that was proposed by Senator Murray of the
State of Washington, and it is entitled Homeless Women Veterans
and Homeless Veterans with Children Act of 2009, and also a
bill that is proposed by Senator Reed, and that is entitled the
Zero Tolerance for Veterans Homelessness Act of 2009. So we are
focusing on the homeless here.
I look forward to continuing to work with the Members of
the Subcommittee, members of the Veterans Affairs Committee,
and the Administration to assist homeless veterans in accessing
affordable housing and support services so that they are able
to find and remain in their homes. It is essential that we
continue to address the underlying causes of homelessness, such
as lack of mental health services, affordable housing, and
sustainable employment.
I thank the witnesses for appearing today and thank you
very much, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you, Senator Akaka, and thank you
for your leadership.
Let me recognize Senator Reed, who I mentioned in my
opening statement on legislation and we appreciate his
leadership on this.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR JACK REED
Senator Reed. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and
thank you for your leadership in convening this hearing. I
particularly want to recognize Senator Akaka, who has been a
leader in veterans affairs for many, many years and Chairs the
Committee and is someone who has done a remarkable amount of
work on behalf of our veterans.
It is unfortunate, to say the least, to recognize the fact
that there are thousands and thousands of veterans who are on
the streets of America. I was particularly moved by a comment
by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen,
who was out in San Diego and met with a group of 20 or 30
homeless veterans, and they were veterans of Iraq and
Afghanistan. So this is not a phenomenon of people who sort of
lost their way years ago and have difficulties. This is a real
and growing problem. And we have to commit ourselves to an all-
out effort to help these young men and women and not-so-young
men and women. This is a phenomenon that stretches through
every conflict we have had and they are on the streets of
America today.
I am encouraged by the President's commitment and I am
certainly encouraged by Secretary Shinseki, who understands
this issue not just from a policy perspective, from a deeply
personal perspective, as a soldier's soldier. And I was
pleased, as Senator Akaka mentioned, to introduce along with
Senator Bond, Senator Johnson, and Senator Murray the Zero
Tolerance for Veterans Homelessness Act. It contains housing
provisions that would be important. The VA would be authorized
to provide Rapid Re-Housing benefits, like short-term rental
assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services.
And they would authorize in this legislation additional housing
vouchers through HUD to get veterans off the streets and into
homes.
But I think, also, given the tragic events of the last
week, we understand that housing alone is not the solution.
Housing has to be wedded to services and we have to integrate
our approach. We have to be supportive as well as sheltering,
and that should be the goal and we should not stop until we can
say that there are virtually no veterans on the streets of
America. Thank you.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you, Senator Reed.
Senator Tester.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR JON TESTER
Senator Tester. Thank you, Chairman Menendez. I want to
echo my thanks for you holding this hearing.
I also want to associate myself with Senator Reed's
comments as concerns Senator Akaka. Senator Akaka is very much
a leader when it comes to veterans in this country and I
certainly appreciate that leadership, whether it is here in
this Committee or on the VA Committee.
When veterans don't get the benefits they deserve, that is
distressing enough. When we have veterans that are homeless,
that is totally unacceptable, and I think we can all agree on
that.
We have different groups out there that are trying to
address the needs of homeless veterans. One of them is the
Poverello Center in Missoula, Montana. They have got a great
Executive Director there who has done some great work
addressing the issues of homeless veterans. I toured the Pov
about a year ago and we talked a little bit about the veterans
and veterans they could help and so many that they couldn't
help because they were slipping through the cracks. We talked
about a local homeless veteran who was beaten to death, another
one who couldn't find help and ultimately froze to death. The
issues that evolve around homeless veterans are huge and they
are real and they are unacceptable.
When the President talks about the need for increased
assistance, funding shelters and services for homeless
veterans, I couldn't agree more, because we have seen the
overcrowding. We have seen the loss of dignity, in some cases,
the outright discarding of men and women who have made the
sacrifice for this country. We need to do more to help homeless
veterans to obtain permanent housing and address their health
concerns.
In the United States, there are over 131,000 homeless
veterans on any given night. There is a tendency to look at the
homelessness as an urban problem. It is not. In Montana, where
we have more veterans per capita than almost any other State,
there are 168 veterans currently on waiting lists--the ones we
know of--waiting for shelter. They may not live in a big city,
but their problems are just as real and our obligation to help
them is just as real, especially in a State like Montana where
in the wintertime it gets bitterly cold.
This may not seem like a lot to some, but these men and
women are more than just names on a list. I am going to cite
some of them, veterans like Richard Roy Jones, a Native
American who was honorably discharged from the military. He is
a homeless veteran. He drowned in the Clark Fork River around
Missoula last July. He served in the Marine Corps in 1980 to
1983. Richard Roy Jones was on the waiting list to get into the
Valor House. He finally made it to eighth in line on that list.
After months of trying to succeed under the constraints of an
overcrowded shelter, he succumbed to mental illness and the
elements. A local media report described him as a local
transient. He was much more than that and we failed him, just
plain and simple.
Rural communities often face a challenge of limited
resources. They are underserved by health professionals who can
treat the underlying problems that contribute to the veterans'
homelessness. In Montana, weather extremes and great distances
further complicate that issue. That is why I am going to
cosponsor the bill that we are discussing today, S. 1547, Zero
Tolerance for Veterans Homeless Act of 2009, and continue
pushing for the passage of S. 1963, which is still being held
by a single Senator.
I know the hard work that professionals are doing around
Montana to take care of our homeless veterans, but it is not
near enough. We must provide them with the resources they need
to make sure veterans do not become victims of the elements,
crime, hunger, substance abuse, or treatable mental illness. We
absolutely have to do more.
With that, Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you, Senator Tester.
Senator Schumer.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR CHARLES E. SCHUMER
Senator Schumer. Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for
holding the hearing today on ending veterans homelessness. I
want to thank you, as Chair of the Housing Subcommittee, and
Senator Akaka, who Chairs the Veterans Committee, for the great
leadership that you have shown in this area.
The crisis of veteran homelessness has never been worse in
our country, and frankly, we face a moral responsibility to
address it as soon as possible. The Department of Veterans
Affairs recently reported that on any given night,
approximately 131,000 male and female veterans are homeless.
Over the course of the year, over 330,000 veterans face
homelessness.
I was reminded of these staggering statistics on a visit I
made last year to the historical Camp Shanks in Rockland
County, New York, also known as Last Stop, USA. Camp Shanks
served as one of the largest Army embarkation points in the
United States during World War II. Approximately 1.3 million
soldiers attended camp for processing before being deployed to
serve our country in Europe.
At present, Camp Shanks is in an area that is surrounded by
well over 7,000 homeless veterans. A local community group
called Homes for Heroes, led by Rockland County legislator John
Murphy, has proposed a development that would include 50 units
of affordable housing and supportive services designated for
homeless veterans in the area. Projects like this underscore
the need for additional Federal assistance for places like
Rockland County to address veterans homeless issues, bolster
efforts already underway, and offset the cost of constructing
and properly maintaining the property.
Legislation introduced by then-Senator Barack Obama in the
109th Congress addressed this need for adequate housing for our
Nation's homeless heroes. I was asked to carry the torch for
this legislation, Homes for Heroes, this session because it
recognizes that in order to combat and prevent veterans
homelessness once and for all, we must take a comprehensive
approach and use all the tools at our disposal and partner
affordable long-term housing with supportable clinical
services. I would like to thank Senators Menendez, Durbin,
Brown, Begich, Bingaman, Gillibrand, Kerry, Lautenberg, Tester,
and Udall for cosponsoring this legislation. A House companion
of this legislation was introduced by Representative Green of
Texas earlier this year.
Here is what the legislation does. First, it expands
existing Federal programs by authorizing 20,000 new HUD
Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program Vouchers annually
through fiscal year 2013 and makes the program permanent.
Second, Homes for Heroes also creates a new assistance
program that provides grants for community and nonprofit
organizations to purchase, build, or rehabilitate housing for
low-income veterans, just like Camp Shanks. In addition, these
organizations would supply supportive services, including
substance abuse and mental health counseling, vocational and
employment training, transportation, child care, and other
services independently. By providing Federal funding to these
community groups, housing projects like Camp Shanks could
become a realistic endeavor and end veteran homelessness.
Third, Homes for Heroes establishes special assistance for
Veterans Affairs at HUD to coordinate services in housing with
the Veterans Affairs Department and work with public housing
authorities to create a plan to address the needs of homeless
veterans.
I would also like to recognize, in addition to all of my
cosponsors, that while my legislation uses different methods to
address veterans homelessness, Senator Reed's legislation and
ours seeks to achieve similar goals, and I look forward to
working with Senator Reed, who has done great work in this
area, as well, in the future to combine our two approaches.
It is imperative that Congress acts quickly to address
these challenges and work with the Administration to end
veterans homelessness. Our veterans needed our Nation's call.
The least we can do as a Nation is ensure they have a roof over
their head in the Nation they fought to protect.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to today's hearing
and the prepared testimony from the witnesses.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you, Senator Schumer. I thank all
my colleagues for their statements and their advocacy and their
respective leadership together. This is a lot of firepower. We
can get something done here.
With that, let me recognize our first panel. Let me welcome
our first witness to testify, Assistant Secretary Mercedes
Marquez. Ms. Marquez is the Assistant Secretary for Community
Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Her office is charged with administering
several homelessness programs at HUD. We welcome you.
And our second witness is Mr. Peter Dougherty, the Director
of Homeless Programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr.
Dougherty's office takes a proactive approach in identifying
homeless veterans in need and administering programs to help.
We welcome you. We would ask you to summarize your
testimony for about 5 minutes apiece. Your full statements will
be included in the record. It will give us some time to have
our colleagues have a question and answer session with you.
Ms. Marquez.
STATEMENT OF MERCEDES MARQUEZ, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR
COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Ms. Marquez. Chairman Menendez, Members, I am pleased to be
here with you today representing the Department of Housing and
Urban Development. As you said, I am the Assistant Secretary
for Community Planning and Development, and I oversee, among
other things, the Department's efforts to confront the housing
and service needs of homeless persons, including homeless
veterans and their families. We strongly support our sister
agency at the Department of Veterans Affairs in achieving their
new goals.
The Department administers a variety of programs that can
serve veterans. These including the Housing Choice Voucher
Program, the HOME Program, and the CDBG Program. These programs
provide great flexibility so that communities can use these
Federal resources to meet their local needs.
In addition to these programs, Congress has also authorized
a variety of targeted programs for special needs populations,
including persons who are homeless. HUD provides assistance in
a variety of ways.
In February of 2009, HUD competitively awarded
approximately $1.4 billion in targeted Homeless Assistance
Grants. A record 6,336 projects received awards. Veterans are
eligible for all of our homeless assistance programs, and HUD
emphasizes the importance of serving veterans in its grant
applications. Communities may submit veteran-specific projects
or projects that support a general homeless population that
includes veterans. In this past competition, HUD awarded 136
projects that specifically target veterans. In addition, over
1,000 projects were awarded that would serve veterans and
others.
The Congress provided $75 million in both 2008 and in 2009
for the HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program, the
HUD-VASH Program. HUD-VASH combines HUD Housing Choice Voucher
rental assistance with homeless veterans with case management
and clinical services provided by the VA at its medical
centers. Through this partnership, HUD and VA will provide
permanent housing and services for approximately 20,000
homeless veterans and their family members, including veterans
who have become homeless after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
HUD-VASH will make a significant impact on those who have
bravely served this great Nation and who have been left on the
streets.
Through the ARRA funding, you have provided an
unprecedented level of funding to HUD and other Federal
agencies. Overall, HUD is responsible for $13.6 billion ARRA
funds for housing and community development. The ARRA
Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program, or HPRP,
provides $1.5 billion to communities nationwide. These funds
can be used to both prevent homelessness and to rapidly rehouse
persons who have become homeless. In designing the program, we
specifically allowed and highlight that HPRP can be used to
help homeless veterans access HUD-VASH by, for instance,
providing the security deposit needed to obtain housing with
the voucher.
The recently enacted Homeless Emergency Assistance and
Rapid Transition to Housing Act, or the HEARTH Act, provides
unprecedented flexibility to confronting homelessness. The Act
consolidates HUD's existing competitive homeless programs into
a single streamlined program, the Continuum of Care Program.
The program requires that all of the stakeholders, including
veterans' organizations, determine how the funds should be
used. In essence, we are combining all the competitive programs
and the HEARTH Act also makes special provisions with the Rural
Housing Stability Assistance Program to provide targeted
assistance to rural areas. Combined, these new programs will
provide communities with greater flexibility to prevent and end
homelessness, including veterans.
The 2009 Appropriation Act provided HUD with $10 million
for a demonstration program to prevent homelessness among
veterans as part of the appropriation for HUD's homeless
programs. HUD is working with the VA to design and implement
this initiative. It is intended to conduct an evaluation of
this demonstration and then share the results. We will share it
widely through HUD's technical assistance resources to
organizations serving veterans.
In essence, we are collaborating. Secretary Donovan,
Secretary Shinseki, they are working together on the Council to
end homelessness. Secretary Donovan has now taken the torch
from Secretary Shinseki as the chair and we are working very
closely together. I can tell you actually that it is pretty
much every day conversation between the staffs at HUD and VA on
all these programs, and that is really not an exaggeration.
Pretty much every day, there is conversation and work going on
between our agencies.
In the end, we are also working to reach out to veterans
organizations. We have established the HUD Veterans Resource
Center. It is headed by a veteran. We have a 1-800 number to
take calls from veterans and to help address their individual
needs. The Resource Center works with each veteran to connect
them to resources within their own community.
In conclusion, I want to reiterate our support, our desire,
and our commitment to help end homelessness among our veterans
and by working effectively with our Federal partners and
yourselves. Thank you very much.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you.
Mr. Dougherty.
STATEMENT OF PETER H. DOUGHERTY, DIRECTOR OF HOMELESS VETERANS
PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Mr. Dougherty. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We appreciate the
opportunity to be here today. As you indicated, tragically,
there are, we believe, about 131,000 homeless veterans who are
without an appropriate place to stay. While progress has been
made, just a few years ago we were reporting closer to a number
of 200,000, that is still far too many.
VA's goal and our objective is to have ``no wrong door,'' a
no wrong door approach to the assistance that can be provided
so that whether a veteran gets assistance from us, the
Department of Veterans Affairs, or from community partners
through contracted services, we want to make sure those
services are available.
VA, as you know, has the largest integrated health care
network in the country and this year, we are targeted to spend
approximately $3.2 billion on homeless veterans, including $2.7
billion for health care services, and a little more than a
half-a-billion dollars for targeted programs for homeless
veterans.
The 5-year plan that has been discussed is an ambitious
goal to end homelessness among veterans within 5 years. The
Secretary's plan includes bold new measures that will both
serve those who are seriously impaired and, in a major shift
for us, attacking the problem with preventive measures, like
discharge planning for incarcerated veterans reentering
society, supportive services grants for low-income veterans and
their families, a national referral and call center to link
veterans to local services, and the partnership the Assistant
Secretary just spoke about with veterans who are recently
separated.
Thanks to the support of the Congress and the leadership at
the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the first
20,000 units of HUD-VASH are now out. I think as you will hear
later today, this has had a great impact because it has given
us a great opportunity to provide health care services to
veterans while at the same time making sure the veteran and,
veterans with families, have a place to stay. To date, about 11
percent of those units are occupied by a woman veteran and 12
percent of those units are occupied by veterans with children.
On average, 1.7 children are in each of those homes.
Our continuing efforts are to work with the more than 600
community organizations who provide transitional housing to
more than, we believe, 20,000 homeless veterans who will get
that assistance this year. We work closely with the 240 Public
Housing Authorities with the HUD-VASH Program. Earlier this
year, we have opened a new National Center on Homelessness
Among Veterans, which is really a research opportunity that we
have not had available to make sure that we are providing
timely assistance to veterans.
We continue to work with our Grant and Per Diem Program. We
activated more than 1,100 beds this past year. The Secretary
just announced a month ago that we have awarded grants that
will create nearly 1,200 new transitional housing beds this
year.
We have expedited claims, because part of this is about
getting veterans benefits; but it is also about getting them
back to gainful employment once again.
Regarding the newest generation of veterans, we have seen
nearly 4,000 veterans in our outreach effort who had served in
Iraq and Afghanistan. About a thousand of them have used
homeless-specific programs.
We are working, with some of the nearly 40,000 veterans who
come out of institutional and correctional settings every year.
We are working very closely with courts and the criminal
justice system.
We are also working very closely with keeping veterans in
their housing if they already have housing. The Supportive
Services Grant Program that we have will do much more to make
sure that those veterans are able to stay in housing and never
become homeless in the first place.
Housing, health care, jobs, education, these are all
critical areas where VA is focusing to address the needs of
homeless veterans. We work very closely with our colleagues at
the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but also with
Labor, HHS, U.S. Interagency Council on the Homeless, and the
others.
I know the Congress, the Secretary, the President, are all
committed to ending veteran homelessness. No one who served our
Nation, especially those who have worn our military uniforms,
should ever find themselves without care and without hope. We
know there are never any absolutes in life, but we have set an
ambitious target and we are going to give our best effort as we
moved forward.
Again, we thank you for the opportunity to testify and I am
happy to answer any questions you may have.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you both for your testimony.
We will start a series of 5-minute rounds of questions, and
the Chair will recognize himself to start off with.
Let me just say, I appreciate both of your testimony and I
certainly am enthused by hearing about the coordination, Ms.
Marquez, that you mentioned. But, you know, I wonder--and I
understand this Administration is only 10 months old, so I
start from that starting point, I grant that--but I wonder, how
is it that with the wide array of programs you both described,
that we have 131,000 homeless veterans, that we may have at any
given time during the course of a year 260,000 homeless
veterans, that we have 600,000 veterans who have a home but pay
over 50 percent of their income toward rent, which is
astronomical. What is it that we are not doing right that, in
fact, leads us, despite the array of programs, leads us to that
reality?
You know, one of the witnesses on the next panel will say
that the fragmentation of these programs is a challenge, and
so, you know, I am wondering if you can talk about, first of
all, what is it that leads us, notwithstanding all of these
resources and these programs, to still face the alarming
statistics that I think are a national disgrace?
And second, what are we doing to coordinate and to
integrate these programs so we are being successful at our goal
here, which is to have a home for those who serve the country?
Why don't we start there.
Mr. Dougherty. Let me start off, Mr. Chairman, because I
think what you have done in the last 2 years has given us a
tool that we did not have before, and that is the opportunity
for veterans to get into permanent housing with case management
services from VA. I think the HUD-VASH Program has given us,
20,000 units now, it looks like the Congress is poised perhaps
to give us another 10,000 units. That is a critically important
piece of what needs to occur as we move forward.
Our Transitional Housing Programs have been effective. They
have been good. We are continuing to increase them. But HUD-
VASH, the opportunity to give that veteran a permanent housing
place has been very helpful, and it has been very helpful
particularly for those veterans that have families and have
children, because historically, VA has been constrained and our
programs have not been very family friendly. So HUD-VASH has
been a good thing.
The other is what you have done this past year is given us
the authority to provide supportive services grants, and that,
we think, is going to have great long-term impact, because as
was said by the Senators earlier, about 650,000 veterans, we
believe, are low income and are just that paycheck away from
perhaps losing that housing. And so as we are looking to ramp
up and increase that opportunity to provide assistance in the
community for those veterans, we think that will have long-term
benefits, as well.
Chairman Menendez. So HUD-VASH, you consider that a
success?
Mr. Dougherty. HUD-VASH, I think, is remarkably successful
as to what we have been able to start.
Chairman Menendez. One of the things that I am enthused
about the 5-year plan is that it also talks about prevention of
homelessness. Our ultimate goal is not only to give all of
those who are homeless a home, but is to prevent this from
happening. What is it that the Administration can do to prevent
homelessness before it begins? What are some of your
initiatives in that regard?
Mr. Dougherty. Well, besides the Supportive Services Grants
that I mentioned a moment ago, we are now getting fully engaged
in doing more with veterans who are discharging from
institutional settings, particularly those who are coming out
of correctional settings, because we know a significant
percentage of them go in with mental illness and substance
abuse problems. They are coming out now with a criminal arrest
record history, as well. They have multiple strikes against
them.
Last year, we intervened in about 4,500 cases of veterans
who were coming out of institutional settings. Besides those
who are in institutional settings, we are now moving into
working more with court diversion programs. Many years ago, I
was a magistrate court judge, and one of the things that I
think this gives us an opportunity to do is to say to that
veteran, who really needs health care and assistance, that if
we can get you into treatment and get those problems addressed
that will be less likely to set you into homelessness. You will
have a much better opportunity to move on with your life, get
back into employment, and take on responsibility.
Chairman Menendez. If there is a veteran or the family of a
veteran or a neighbor of a veteran who is homeless or facing a
challenge right now, is there a 1-800 number that we could give
them right now?
Mr. Dougherty. Any veteran can contact us by the 1-800-827-
1000 number.
Chairman Menendez. One-800-827----
Mr. Dougherty. One thousand.
Chairman Menendez. ----1000.
Mr. Dougherty. Mr. Chairman, as you talk about prevention,
one of the things that we are doing is we are hooking up with
the suicide hotline that goes out across the country that works
as a collaborative with the Department of Health and Human
Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs. About 20
percent of the veterans who call that number may have some
suicidal tendency, but many times, they are calling because
they have a homeless issue. We are matching up with the veteran
portion of those calls, because what we want to be able to do
is to be able to respond immediately to that veteran who is in
crisis and get them into a program and services, because one of
the other things that we are doing is more preventive activity
that Senator Tester was talking about.
We have a sixfold increase in contract residential care.
What we want to be able to do is to get to the point that when
veterans are coming to us and they need assistance, we will be
able to provide some assistance to them today, not to say, come
back at some time in the future or go on a waiting list to get
assistance.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you.
Senator Reed.
Senator Reed. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and
thank you, Madam Secretary and Mr. Dougherty.
Let me first ask, Mr. Dougherty, one of the lessons that we
have learned with respect to homelessness is to get the
sickest, most complicated individuals who are homeless the
longest into permanent supportive housing and to do this
without preconditions or requirements that would otherwise
screen out these people. And again, that is a tension between
the decorum in the facility and getting these people off the
street.
Are you embracing this approach of housing first, of
literally getting the most difficult, challenging cases off the
street? Can you elaborate on your approach?
Mr. Dougherty. Yes, Senator Reed, we do that. We are
looking, and unlike some, we have a long history of both the
health care needs of these veterans and an opportunity to make
an assessment of what their needs are. We, in fact, do look to
try to make sure that those who are in the greatest need get
those services. And we don't have preconditions. We want to
make sure this is an appropriate veteran who will come in, and
as the law requires, we will participate in ongoing health care
services. What we don't want to do is just put somebody in
housing without services because we don't think they are going
to get better or do well. But we will take anybody into this
program as long as they are interested in continuing to get
ongoing services.
Senator Reed. Let me follow up. How could having resources
for Rapid Re-Housing initiatives, such as short-term rental
assistance, security deposits, utility payment, help in your
efforts? That is one of the aspects of the legislation I have
proposed.
Mr. Dougherty. Well, it helps tremendously because, we know
that there are two groups of veterans that it would help. We
have run across an increasing number of veterans who are having
a difficult time right now that perhaps some short-term
assistance would keep them from ever becoming homeless in the
first place. And we also know that that assistance is very
helpful to help get some of those veterans who are sliding into
homelessness or have slid into homelessness.
One of the things that we are hoping prior to your
legislation is to try to use authority in the Supportive
Services Grant money we have. We will give some money and the
grantees will be able to use that money to help get veterans
into housing who would otherwise be able to get into housing
but don't have money for security deposits and those things. We
work closely, as the Assistant Secretary has said, with Rapid
Re-Housing, but we also know that in many communities, it is a
community decision as to what they are going to do with that
money and so we want to make sure that there is adequate
resources to get those veterans taken care of.
Senator Reed. Thank you.
Let me turn to the Secretary, and I know you are both
committed, not just individually, but as organizations, to help
our veterans. But what are the challenges that you have
perceived--both of you, but I will start with the Secretary--in
veterans accessing HUD programs, and specific strategies that
collectively you are weighing to address these difficulties?
Madam Secretary?
Ms. Marquez. Thank you for the question. I think I would
start by saying that up until the efforts of the last 2 years,
there was not a great bridge between the HUD programs and the
VA programs. The HUD-VASH has created a bridge. The Rapid Re-
Housing elements have strengthened it, because with Section 8
there is not money there for any kind of deposit for the
utility assistance that you spoke of. The Rapid Re-Housing
money now ties the Section 8 voucher to the money that gets you
in and keeps you in the housing and services that the VA is
offering. So now there is a real bridge and a real path to
walk.
I would also say that in any effort, any strategy on this,
you have to decide where you are going to draw your line. And
as you have spoken about how all the numbers continue, you have
to decide, where are you going to start the intake process on
those that are coming back, whether it is that they are coming
back from the field or they are coming out of another
institution, how you are going to catch them there, do the
intake and assessment properly there, and then how are you
going to look back at those that now have more chronic issues.
The money that we have at the moment, the types of programs
that we have now are allowing us to keep that line. That is
something we did not have before. Without having enough
resources to focus on prevention, essentially, then, everyone
is dropping back into the deeper problems, and then that is
more costly and more difficult to work both with the individual
and their families.
Senator Reed. Thank you, Madam Secretary.
Just a quick comment, Mr. Dougherty, from your perspective?
Mr. Dougherty. I think, Senator, that the issue of having
dedicated vouchers for veterans has been terrific and the other
provisions that you put in that would allow us to serve those
veterans. I think what has happened here is we have been able
to do the best of two things. The Department of Housing and
Urban Development obviously is the lead and does good housing.
We provide lots of good health care and other services. And so
the ability for us to tie each veteran in each housing unit
with the best of both of what we do is the secret to success.
Senator Reed. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you.
Senator Tester.
Senator Tester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank both of you for the work you do. It is
critically important work, I think, as we move forward to
address the issue.
Mr. Dougherty, I think I will start with if the VA has a
policy regarding VA-funded contractors who provide shelter to
veterans, are they, or do they--it is a two-edged sword--do
they allow the shelter to take in intoxicated veterans?
Mr. Dougherty. Are you talking about our Grant and Per Diem
Program, the Transitional Housing Program?
Senator Tester. I am talking about Grant and Per Diem
Program.
Mr. Dougherty. Yes. In the Grant and Per Diem Program,
there is a provision in law that says sobriety. That doesn't
mean I can't come in, having been drinking, but there is a
sobriety provision in the law for that program. So I have to
try to achieve and maintain sobriety.
Senator Tester. Right, and so how--I mean, do you give any
sort of consultation to folks who run these shelters about--I
mean, I get it. I understand it. You don't want somebody that
is not sober coming into a place where it is safe. On the other
side of the coin, you don't want to kick them out if it is 20
below zero, or even if it is 20 above zero, you don't want to
kick them out. You don't want to kick them out, period.
Mr. Dougherty. Right.
Senator Tester. What kind of counsel do you give to them?
Mr. Dougherty. Right. We should, if the veteran can't
continue to stay in there because they are not complying with
the requirements----
Senator Tester. Yes.
Mr. Dougherty. Then the VA should be working with that
provider to work on an appropriate discharge plan. Our plan
should not be just simply to put that person out. The plan
should be what can that veteran get in the way of additional
treatment outside of there.
Senator Tester. So where do they go? Where does the head of
that shelter, where does the administrator of that shelter go?
Mr. Dougherty. Every Grant and Per Diem Program has a
liaison who is a clinical case manager who is supposed to work
with them.
Senator Tester. OK, and that is pretty much across the
board, even in rural areas?
Mr. Dougherty. Yes.
Senator Tester. OK. You had spoken about 40,000 veterans
coming out of corrections every year, is that correct?
Mr. Dougherty. Yes.
Senator Tester. This may not be in your bailiwick, but does
the VA work with those folks while they are incarcerated?
Mr. Dougherty. We are prohibited under law from providing
direct health care services while they are in incarceration.
What we do now is we go in when there is a release pending to
work on a discharge planning process. That is not considered to
be sort of direct hands-on health care services.
Senator Tester. What about just consultation as far as--I
mean, there are a lot of mental health issues that revolve
around a lot of these veterans that end up--and everybody, as
far as that goes. Is there any opportunity to try to give them
some counseling, because from what I have heard, the counseling
in the correctional facilities is pretty much nonexistent.
Mr. Dougherty. Having worked in the correction field in the
past, as well, I would concur with your view that there is not
enough being done inside correctional institutions generally to
address that. We attend joint meetings with people who provide
services there, but generally, no, we do not provide any direct
services inside institutions.
Senator Tester. I mean, with those kind of numbers coming
out, it would be great to try to build some bridges there, too.
The only other question I have, and it is for--I have got a
lot more questions, but it is for both of you. For instance,
Ms. Marquez, you said $13.6 billion in ARRA money that came out
for housing and community development. I assume some of that
goes for veterans. Some of it goes for folks who aren't
veterans. Do you guys measure how effective those dollars are,
not necessarily those dollars, but any dollars you put on the
ground? Do you measure the effectiveness as far as how many
veterans end up getting served?
Ms. Marquez. Actually, yes, we do. Those particular
programs that serve veterans, we have over 7,000 clients. The
assistance that is provided and the recordkeeping that is done
is actually fairly significant, particularly in the special
needs populations. We have quite a bit of information. On
housing units----
Senator Tester. OK. What qualifies as special needs?
Ms. Marquez. Well, special needs would be someone who is
homeless, at risk of being homeless, has a disability. So all
of those programs. We have about 7,000 clients in our
particular Special Needs programs, and when I mean clients, I
mean organizations that receive money.
Senator Tester. Right.
Ms. Marquez. There is a fairly significant reporting
process that keeps track of exactly what happens. And actually,
an enriched technical assistance program for them.
Senator Tester. Well, we may touch base with you to try to
get some numbers on that, because I think that if we are
getting a good bang for the buck on any of these programs, then
I think we need to investigate it further.
Just a closing comment. I just toured here a month or two
ago a homeless facility, a facility that was taking care of
homeless people in Billings, Montana. The VA contributed 65
percent of the money. Volunteers of America contributed 35
percent of the money. I was very, very impressed, and I think
they can hold them for 2 years, get them back on their feet,
get them some education if that is the direction they want to
go, get them a job if that is the direction they want to go,
and then try to mainstream them back in the general population.
I cannot applaud those kind of efforts enough. There are a
lot of these folks that if we don't supply them the kind of
basic needs--if we don't help them meet them, it is going to
cost them a lot as far as quality of life, potentially their
life, period, where we can really help these folks. I just--in
the short period of time that was open--I think it was open
about a month when I got there--I was very impressed with the
clientele that was there and how they were progressing.
Thank you very much for your work. I very much appreciate
it.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you, Senator Tester.
Senator Merkley.
Senator Merkley. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you all
for the work you are doing.
I wanted to particularly thank the Veterans Affairs,
because we had a challenge with the VASH Program in Portland,
Oregon, where the vouchers simply weren't getting distributed.
There was a bureaucratic block in the pipeline, if you will,
and earlier this year when we brought it to the attention of
the Veterans Department, they jumped in, found what the problem
was, fixed it, and put it back on track so those vouchers were
really reaching veterans, and so I wanted to thank you for the
team doing a great job in making the program work on the road.
I want to try to understand this issue of homelessness
among veterans as much as possible. I understand that
homelessness tends to reach a peak about 7 years after veterans
return, those who have served overseas. One might have
initially thought that maybe homelessness would be higher first
after returning, as people try to get their feet on the ground.
But what drives the curve of homelessness as people return from
the theater of war?
Mr. Dougherty. I think there are two issues that are at
play. One is that that has been the historical view of what has
happened, has been about a 10-year period from the time you
have discharged from military service. But that also predates
the fact that we had early intervention and programs that were
in existence.
We are now much more proactively going out and reaching.
But the real issue for most veterans who we see in homeless
programs is a significant substance use disorder problem and
mental illness problems, and many of those problems are
something that accumulate over a period of time. And while I
may have mental illness problems, I may have a substance abuse
problem, for many, I can sort of cope and maintain for a while.
I may be able to maintain some housing. I may be able to
maintain. But my relationships start breaking apart. My friends
and family stop associating with me, stop letting me stay with
them, because while you go off to work, I sit and drink and
abuse my opportunity to stay with you until finally you have
had enough and you say, no, you have got to go.
That is where many of the veterans that we have seen in the
past have been. They have literally been homeless and out on
the street or under the bridges or in an emergency shelter.
What we are trying to do is change the focus of that, as we are
in a lot of things in health care, into, instead of getting to
illness care, we are trying to work on wellness. We are trying
to stop that veteran early on so they don't become so disabled
that they fall into what you and I would consider to be
chronically homeless veteran. We want to try to make sure when
they are having those first signs of mental health and
substance abuse problems and employment-related problems, we
are intervening with them at that period and not waiting until
they get sick.
Senator Merkley. Secretary Marquez, I saw you shaking your
head. Is there anything you want to add to that, or shaking
your head up and down.
Ms. Marquez. I think the issues, the arc that people go
through, if we are not careful about now removing judgment in
our programs, right, judgment, for instance, if you are
intoxicated, you can't come into a shelter, what ends up
happening is that then that person can go outside, become
belligerent, get arrested, and you drop down to another
problem.
If we had, for instance, something like a drop-in center,
not that they should come into the shelter and be belligerent
there, but if there were a corollary drop-in center where they
could go to calm down, to sleep a bit, right, it would help,
and that is because we would have removed judgment from our
programs.
The same is true as we go through with how do you serve
people in permanent supportive housing. If we adopt a housing-
first model, truly adopt a housing-first model, then we will
design buildings, common areas, spaces, and services to
accommodate that more long-term and have a system later, that
as folks stabilize, have another level of housing that doesn't
have the deepest level of permanent supportive services, which
are also the most expensive, and allows them to move from a
certain level of deep services to another level of services,
making room for someone else. We yet do not have the full
measure of housing that takes someone from absolute crisis,
like the individual that presents themselves at a shelter, to
the level of sustainability of the individual until the point
where they can actually be integrated back into the regular
community without any stigma at all or being in any particular
special needs types of housing. That is what we have to do.
Senator Merkley. One other question, and certainly I will
yield to the Chair if--is it appropriate to take another
question here? As we study homelessness among veterans, do we
find, if you will, for similar-aged folks who came from similar
backgrounds who didn't go into the service, do we find a
significantly different curve for those who didn't serve, those
who served but didn't serve in a theater of war, didn't serve
in battle, and those who ended up in Iraq and Afghanistan-type
situations with the stress of battle? Do we see significantly
different curves in terms of the level of substance abuse, the
level of mental illness, the level of homelessness? Can we kind
of see what the challenge of that--do we see distinctions from
the veterans' experience to the experience of the regular
population?
Mr. Dougherty. I think that we are not sure we have a
final, definitive answer on that. That is one of the things
that these new Centers on Homelessness are really looking at.
What we do know is that there are many common risk factors
among all homeless people, those who have had military service
and who have not. What we also know is those that had military
service with long deployments, those who have been in combat
zones, those are additional stress factors that are on people
who generally are not on the civilian population who has not
had military service.
Among the OIF/OEF veterans, for example, that we have seen,
is a significantly higher percentage of these veterans than any
veterans we have seen before of having some affective disorder,
perhaps combat PTSD. But these veterans have had multiple
deployments in many cases and obviously have been in a very hot
war situation, and so that is an additional stress.
But we are still trying to come to the good answer as to
whether or not we can really categorize whether there are so
many risk factors in my youth and in my military service and in
my postmilitary service to make a good correlation between
those who had military service and those who have not.
Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, both of you.
Mr. Dougherty. Thank you.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you, Senator.
Thank you both for your testimony. We applaud your
coordination. We are looking forward to greater integration so
that we can provide a powerful set of programs that provide
solutions, both on the housing and the supportive services side
that, I think, universally we agree need to be integrated to
make this successful. I know, having spoken to many of my
colleagues about this, and you saw the turnout today about this
issue, there is a great desire to be supportive of evidence-
based successful programs. Just having an array of programs
doesn't cut it if we are not succeeding at the goal.
So we will look forward to our continuing engagement. We
are going to be hearing a second panel of both individuals as
well as organizations who are involved with veterans and
homelessness. We will share it with you and look forward to
your responses. Thank you very much.
Let me call up our second panel as our first panel leaves.
The first witness on our second panel is Ms. Melanie
Lilliston. She is the Director of Technical Assistance and
Finance at the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, a
nonprofit organization which is a resource and technical
assistance center for a national network of community-based
service providers assisting hundreds of thousands of veterans
each year.
Our next witness is Mr. Jack Fanous. He is the Executive
Director and founder of the G.I. Go Fund. The G.I. Go Fund
specifically supports veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom
and Operation Iraqi Freedom with respect to transition
assistance, and we are certainly proud to have Jack here. The
G.I. Go Fund is a New Jersey organization.
Our third witness is Ms. Lila Guy, a veteran of Operation
Iraqi Freedom. Ms. Guy served in Kirkuk, Iraq, from September
2005 to September 2006. She is from the 101st Airborne Division
at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Ms. Guy has a compelling story to
tell all of us, and on behalf of our colleagues here in the
Senate, we thank you for your service to our country.
Our final witness is Mr. William Wise of Winslow, New
Jersey. He is a Vietnam War veteran. Mr. Wise himself was
homeless for a time after his return, and once again, Mr. Wise,
thank you for your service to our country.
We welcome you all. We look forward to your testimony. And
again, we would ask you to summarize that testimony in around 5
minutes. Your full statements will be included in the record.
And with that, Ms. Lilliston, would you start?
STATEMENT OF MELANIE LILLISTON, DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE AND FINANCE, NATIONAL COALITION FOR HOMELESS
VETERANS
Ms. Lilliston. Good morning. The National Coalition for
Homeless Veterans is honored to appear before this Committee
today to comment on ending veterans homelessness.
For 20 years, NCHV has worked diligently to serve as the
Nation's primary liaison between the community and faith-based
organizations that help homeless veterans, the Congress, and
the Federal agencies that are invested in this campaign. The
efforts have been commendable and we are grateful that we have
such dedicated and passionate leadership within the Department
of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Labor, and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development. We have made
significant progress in the efforts to end veterans
homelessness. However, our work is not done until the last
veteran is off the street.
Just last week at a summit hosted by the VA, Secretary Eric
Shinseki stated, this is not a summit on homeless veterans. It
is a summit to end homelessness among veterans. That is our
purpose. President Obama and I are personally committed to
ending homelessness among veterans within the next 5 years.
To demonstrate his commitment, Secretary Shinseki has
created a 5-year plan that would expand the VA's partnerships
and collaborations between the Federal agencies and community-
based partners. Four of the six strategic pillars of the plan
work on--have been built on the work of the past two decades,
outreach, treatment, employment and benefits, and community
partnerships. Two represent new critical focus, prevention and
housing and supportive services for low-income veterans.
NCHV acknowledges the leadership role of the Subcommittee
and that of the full Committee in this noble effort. There are
three key bills that lay the foundation on which we as a Nation
can build a successful, comprehensive campaign to end and
prevent homelessness among veterans and fulfill the Secretary's
5-year plan.
The Zero Tolerance for Veterans Homeless Act of 2009
provides authorization for up to $50 million annually to
provide supportive services for low-income veterans to reduce
the risk of becoming homeless. It will modernize the extremely
important and successful VA Grant and Per Diem Program and
allow for the utilization of innovative project funding
strategies. It calls for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
study the method of reimbursing Grant and Per Diem Programs for
their program expenses and reporting recommendations for
revising the payment system. It will increase the annual Grant
and Per Diem authorization to $200 million annually beginning
in fiscal year 2010, and it will establish the Special
Assistant for Veterans Affairs within HUD to ensure veterans
have access to housing and homeless assistance programs funded
by the Department.
The Homes for Heroes Act of 2009 will allow low- and
extremely low-income veterans to access housing and the vital
services they need in order to be successful citizens. The Act
would provide $200 million annually for the development of
supportive housing for veterans who need case management and
wrap-around services in order to be successfully housed. It
would fund 20,000 rental vouchers for extremely low-income
veterans, and it would create the position of Veteran Liaison
within HUD to ensure veteran inclusion in all of their
programs.
More and more families are requesting services and
affordable housing, and providing them this support would
reduce the likelihood that many veteran families in crisis will
continue on this downward spiral into homelessness. The
Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless Veterans with Children Act
of 2009--for the first time in American history, women comprise
more than 11 percent of the forces being deployed to serve in
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including more than 30,000
single women with dependent children. The VA anticipates women
will account for more than 50 percent of the Nation's veterans
within the next 10 years. Currently, more than 5 percent of
veterans requesting assistance from the VA and community-based
homeless veterans service providers are women, and more than
half of these women are between the ages of 20 and 29, with 10
percent having dependent children. This bill would authorize up
to $10 million in grants to community and faith-based
organizations to provide critical, specialized supports for
these deserving families as they work their way out of
homelessness.
In closing, on this day before Veterans Day, I want to
thank you for your support helping the men and women who have
served this country in the greatest hour of need. The successes
we have seen in decreasing the number of homeless veterans over
the last 5 years would not have happened without your
leadership and support. These three bills are vital for the
Secretary's 5-year plan to move forward. From the increase in
the number of HUD-VASH vouchers and the ability to provide
supportive services for low-income and women veterans, to the
improvement and expansions of the Grant and Per Diem Program,
these bills provide real opportunities to move the plan into
action and fulfill the historic mission to end homelessness
among veterans and former Guardians in 5 years.
Once again, on behalf of the veterans we serve, thank you
for your support. I can think of no better way to say thank you
to all of those who served this Nation than continuing to
support those veterans who need our help the most.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you very much.
Mr. Berg, let me apologize. In my original set of
introductions here, there was an omit. We welcome you to the
hearing. Steven Berg is the Vice President for Programs and
Policy at the National Alliance To End Homelessness, a
nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that was founded back in
1983 by a group of leaders deeply disturbed by the appearance
of thousands of Americans living on the streets of our Nation.
And while I know your agenda is broad in terms of all
homelessness, we certainly welcome you to today's hearing and I
recognize you at this time.
STATEMENT OF STEVEN R. BERG, VICE PRESIDENT FOR PROGRAMS AND
POLICY, NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS
Mr. Berg. Well, Senator Menendez, thank you again for
holding this hearing and inviting us to the hearing. I think
your statement about wanting to support things that work is
really what I would like to talk about for a few minutes here
today.
As many people on this Committee are aware, and largely
because of the work of programs under the jurisdiction of this
Committee, this country--the leading communities in this
country have really changed the way homelessness is addressed.
The cities, the States that are doing the best work on this
issue have really changed from programs that merely manage the
problem of homelessness and take care of homeless people to
programs that really seek to solve the problem of homelessness.
I know you are familiar with the use of permanent
supportive housing in New Jersey as a real leader for the rest
of the country. Initiatives like Rapid Re-Housing, like more
intensive prevention kinds of services, coordinating across
systems, these initiatives have had real impacts in some of the
leading communities. The number of homeless people has dropped
substantially up until the recession, and even in the face of
the recession, it managed to stave off the increases that we
have come to expect as the unemployment rate goes up.
We have an opportunity now to use what we have learned to
get these same results for veterans. For 20 years, we have been
addressing the problem of homeless veterans, decrying the lack
of results, but somehow not able to ever get the results that
we have wanted. The learning that we have had in recent years,
the political support for doing more about homeless veterans,
those things combine to give us an opportunity that I think is
illustrated by the new VA Secretary's announcement of a 5-year
plan to end homelessness for veterans.
I think what it is going to take--what we have learned from
what we have seen with the homelessness system more generally
is that there are certain things that it is going to take. It
is going to take leadership. It is going to take leadership at
the national level, and, of course, the Secretary has put down
a hugely important marker for that. It is also going to take
leadership at the local level.
Too often--and this, of course, varies by location and
there are many places where the local VA representatives are
very closely tied in with what the rest of the community is
doing around homelessness--but there are other places where the
VA's homeless programs or the VA itself is separate from what
happens in the rest of the community around homelessness. There
is not a lot of interaction there.
What needs to happen is the VA needs to take leadership at
the local level, and very specifically, as we put it, there has
got to be somebody whose job it is, if a veteran is homeless or
about to become homeless, to help that veteran get housing. And
the VA are the ones to do it.
That has started now with the HUD Voucher Program, as the
VA has hired case managers, part of whose job is to find
landlords who are willing to take those vouchers and rent to
homeless veterans. The advent of the Homeless Prevention and
Rapid Re-Housing Program in the stimulus, that is a HUD
program, but it makes more resources available, and we are
hearing the VA getting more active about finding out who has
got those resources in the community, making sure veterans have
access to those. The kind of prevention and Rapid Re-Housing
initiatives that are in Senator Reed's bill, the Zero Tolerance
bill, would take that a step further, as Pete Dougherty was
saying. This is an important thing that has to happen. There
needs to be a broader array of programs for homeless veterans.
The VA has programs such as the Per Diem Program that are
focused on veterans for whom a 2-year transitional housing
stint is an appropriate response, where sobriety is an
achievable goal. But there also need to be programs like
permanent supportive housing that find people who have more
severe disabilities and severe problems, for whom sobriety is
just not going to be able to be the first thing on the agenda.
And at the same time, on the other end, there need to be
programs like Rapid Re-Housing for people who don't need a 2-
year program. They are having an emergency crisis. They need an
emergency crisis response. These are things that are starting
to really have an impact in the regular homeless system and it
needs to happen in the VA, too.
We know that for many years, we have not dealt with this
issue the way it should be dealt with. There is a sense in
which, as a country, we made some mistakes with veterans of an
earlier era, of the Vietnam era and the era right after that,
and the result was thousands of veterans homeless for a long
period of time. We hope not to make that same mistake now, and
at the same time maybe rectify some of the mistakes we made
earlier. I think the opportunity exists to do that, and that is
why I am so enthused about what this Committee is doing. Thank
you.
Senator Merkley. Thank you very much.
Mr. Fanous.
STATEMENT OF JACK S. FANOUS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER,
G.I. GO FUND
Mr. Fanous. Good morning, Chairman Menendez. I would like
to thank you for this opportunity to testify on the
difficulties our Nation's homeless veterans face and the steps
our organization is taking to answer the call to end all
homelessness among veterans within 5 years.
I am the Executive Director and founder of the G.I. Go
Fund, a grassroots 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a
mission to assist our Nation's heroes along the difficult path
of transition. The G.I. Go Fund was founded in 2006 following
the death of one of my closest childhood friends, Army
Lieutenant Seth Devorin, from wounds he suffered while
attempting to dismantle an IED in Iraq.
The organization began as a small community group which
aimed to preserve the memory of my friend by providing veterans
with days of rest and relaxation. However, as we began to
understand these men and get to know them, we began to
understand that their problems didn't end the minute they
stepped back foot on American soil, that the problems actually
just began.
Our veterans who have just endured and survived the
unimaginable are now expected to execute a smooth transition
back to civilian life. They are expected to establish
relationships with family and friends. They are expected to
find either long-term secure employment based on their work
experience in the military or expected to become students
utilizing the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, all this while still tending
to their mental and physical wounds by fully addressing
utilizing their VA benefits.
It has been my experience that a fragmented transition
which results from one of these steps being missed or
mishandled leaves our veterans to face a myriad of problems
that can range from fractured family ties, unemployment,
depression, as well as many others. This is all in addition to
the veteran's experienced physical or mental wounds. The issues
can fester and manifest to become chronically debilitating
illness.
Ultimately, a fragmented transition is the primary cause of
homelessness among our Nation's veterans and we must formulate
a two-pronged approach that first works to avoid future
homelessness among new veterans, while simultaneously ending
the current disaster. This two-pronged approach has been
implemented by Mayor Booker of Newark, New Jersey, who has
partnered with our organization to create the first-ever
nonprofit run Municipal Office of Veterans Affairs, which aims
to help veterans find employment and get off the streets when
they are actually homeless.
When a soldier returns to the United States from Iraq or
Afghanistan, he or she is immediately inundated with the
problems many Americans face today, which include unemployment,
an empty refrigerator, shut-off notices, or an eviction or
foreclosure notice. While our organization has assisted
thousands of American military families with these problems as
they arise by hosting job fairs to address the unemployment,
but also providing direct financial assistance to help put food
on the table and keep a roof over their heads, it just isn't
enough.
The root of the financial difficulties usually stems from
unemployment. Like any one of us here today, a veteran cannot
pay for groceries if they are unemployed. A veteran cannot pay
for utilities if they are unemployed. A veteran cannot pay for
a mortgage if they are unemployed. However, unlike the rest of
us sitting here today, these men and women have been defending
our Nation's freedom against the threat of terrorism, causing
them to miss years of their lives. Our Nation's veterans
deserve our patience, assistance, and understanding that it
will take some time to put these lives back on track.
In addition, the Department of Labor's Office of Federal
Contract Compliance, which oversees the hiring practices of
Federal contractors as it pertains to women, minorities,
veterans, and people with disabilities, tracks numbers on the
number of women and minorities that are hired by Federal
contractors. However, it does not track the number of veterans
which are hired by Federal contractors. Until our Federal
contractors and all of our employers in the country take
affirmative action to hire our veterans now, we will not be
able to end the flow of veterans onto the streets.
On any given night in America, one-third of all homeless
people are men and women who proudly served our Nation. They
live in boxes and under bridges. They are our forgotten heroes.
To end this national disaster, a vigorous series of
partnerships between all branches of Government and at all
levels of Government must be forged with community groups and
faith-based organizations. However, these partnerships must
result in veterans actually getting off the streets, not the
same outreach attempts which have failed in the past, like the
Veterans Homeless Standdown, which we host every year in the
city of Newark, which amounts to nothing more than just a nice
day for veterans. They come in, they get a hot meal, they get
some clothes, but they go right back out on the streets. It
doesn't accomplish much.
This more can only come in the form of housing--more
housing, more beds, more transitional beds, more permanent
housing, as we spoke about with the HUD-VASH, housing projects
like the one we are working on in the city of Newark, which
will pursue to rehabilitate a 33,000-square-foot building into
a transitional housing facility that will house 100 homeless
veterans. In a State that has 9,000 homeless veterans on any
given night in a State that only has less than 200 permanent
transitional housing facilities, we need more.
And in conclusion, I would like to thank you, Senator
Menendez, and all the Members of the Committee, for providing
me the time to speak about this important issue on ending
homeless within 5 years. While the task that lies before us is
great and the clock has already begun ticking, I leave here
today deeply encouraged by the attention this Committee has
shined on the issue. I am encouraged that the Chairman of this
Committee, Chairman Menendez, has in his Congressional office a
liaison that fights for veterans issues in the State of New
Jersey with a passion that is unmatched. And I am most
encouraged that President Obama and Secretary Shinseki have
made ending homelessness among veterans a top priority of the
new Administration. I am encouraged, but I am keenly aware of
the enormity of the task at hand, and I am ready to dig in and
manifest the direction provided by the President and Congress.
Thank you.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you very much.
Ms. Guy.
STATEMENT OF LILA M. GUY, IRAQ WAR VETERAN
Ms. Guy. Hi. I just want to thank you for allowing me to
come here and share my story.
As you have already said, I spent a year in Iraq, from 2005
to 2006, and during that time, I was in Kirkuk, Iraq. But I had
four children at home and a husband. When I came back home,
about a month after we got home, they informed us that we will
be redeploying in less than a year after we had came back. My
husband was not happy. He was not in the military, but he
decided that it just was not something that he wanted to do,
and so he just left.
And so at the time, I had three children. Me and my
children were at Fort Campbell and we were doing field training
and things like that. I didn't have anybody to watch the kids
for me or whatever while I went to the field for 30 days, and I
had to ask my mom to come and stay with me so I could do 2
weeks of training. And after all of that, I couldn't do it
anymore. I was having issues just trying to readjust to being
back home and taking care of kids and all that kind of stuff.
So I ended up getting out of the military on a hardship
discharge. So when I got out, I had nothing. Because it was
such an abrupt discharge, I didn't have anything, nowhere to
go, and I drove home. All I had was my car and my kids. So I
drove home to my parents' house and I stayed there for a while.
I ended up having another baby and my father said, you
know, you can't--we don't have enough room, so you are going to
have to find something. But at that time, I still had not found
a job. I had four kids now in one room in a two-bedroom house
with my parents, and so I sent an e-mail to Congressman Sestak
and I informed him of my situation. I was in school. I was a
full-time student. But I just didn't have the money. I had no
place to go. And I asked him, could he help me.
They sent me to the VA, and they had just started a pilot
program for the HUD-VASH--I mean, not a pilot, but it just
started, and I was, like, one of nine of the people that had
just started, you know, going to be first on the program. And
it took about a year before I actually got into a house. During
that time, it was really stressful because I am watching as all
of the people who are in charge--it was only one person. They
finally brought in another person, and by the time he came,
they had about 150 applicants and they were supposed to be, you
know, having meetings with those, coming to our house, and all
of that kind of stuff, but they couldn't do it because they
didn't have enough people.
But anyway, I got a house through the HUD-VASH Program. It
is a four-bedroom house and it is a beautiful--it is a nice
house, you know, just a transition, but I just thank the HUD-
VASH Program for being there for me when I needed them, because
I really didn't have any other choice or whatever.
With the HUD-VASH Program, I really believe in it, because
my situation could have been a lot worse. And I see a lot of
people that are--when we go to the meetings, there are a lot of
other people that are in the HUD-VASH Program that are
literally living on the street, and a lot of them have mental
illnesses. I was listening to his statement and it was true to
me, because I see so many--not just veterans, but soldiers, as
soon as they come back, with so many mental issues.
And like he said, the transition is hard. They teach you to
go and to train and to fight and do all of those things, but
they don't teach you how to live a normal life when you come
back. They don't teach you how to take care of your kids or pay
all of your bills or whatever. A lot of that stuff is all
clumped in together. But once you are out in the real world,
those things are not there for you. There is nobody to say,
well, this is what you need to do, this is the next step,
whatever.
And a lot of those people are lost. There are a lot of
veteran programs, but most veterans don't know what options are
out there for them. So it just so happened that I was able to
reach out to somebody that could help me, but a lot of those
people don't know. They don't have those resources.
So I just thank the HUD-VASH Program for all that they have
done for me, because it has given me an opportunity to move on
with my life. I am still a full-time student and I am doing the
Vocational Rehabilitation Program, so all of those programs are
all different. But every time that you have to reach out to
somebody, you are reaching out here, reaching out there, it is
frustrating, and a lot of those people don't have the patience
to deal with those kind of things.
So if there was some way that all of those things could be
pushed together--not necessarily pushed together, but giving
them an opportunity to be able to say, well, these are the
options that you have, these are the things that are out there
for you, it would help a lot of these soldiers out a lot,
because they don't have anybody as their liaison to say, look,
you can do this, that, and the other.
So I just thank you for allowing me to be here. Thank you.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you very much for sharing your
story, and again, thank you for your service. We wish you well
in school, as well.
Ms. Guy. Thank you.
Chairman Menendez. Mr. Wise.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM WISE, VIETNAM WAR VETERAN
Mr. Wise. Good morning and thank you for having me. I am
pretty much here to endorse the long-term residential programs,
like the one I am in in Winslow. Having been into short-term
programs, in and out of psych wards, et cetera, in programs,
and then thrown back out in the private sector, the VA--their
long-term residential program has provided me with the time to
really address--assess and address the issues of a veteran and
to use a military skill, a military training and experience,
and turn that into a new skill set to learn how to transition
out.
It is a very good program, and I think the time that you
are there is more important. Short-term, it is not going to
work, the 120-day program, at least not for me. Had I known
about the VA earlier, it probably would have been like fourth
down and 99 before I even tried to call the 1-800 number. You
know what I am saying. I come from a generation where it is
nothing but a scratch. I can handle it. And so it was a long
time coming before I got to the point where I sought someone to
get a new play to run, and I still probably would have run my
own play.
I don't know what else to say about that except I really,
really enjoy that program. It saved my life. I have created a
balance where I can see something. Instead of trying to
assimilate, I can take my own self and go on, and that is all I
have. Thank you.
Chairman Menendez. Mr. Wise, which program were you talking
about?
Mr. Wise. Veterans Haven. Veterans Haven in Winslow. It is
a 2-year vocational and residential--I mean, vocational and
transitional arrangement, 2 years, and then after completion,
with an income, with a certain income, you can go to get
housing assistance as long as you stay in the State of New
Jersey, which I leave in March, and that is why I plan to stay
in Jersey.
Chairman Menendez. Great. Thank you very much, again, for
your testimony and your service.
Thank you all for your testimony. We will start a series of
5-minute rounds, and I may take more than 5 minutes since there
is no one else looking to ask questions.
Let me start off with a little bit of what I heard here.
Mr. Berg, you said the VA needs to take leadership at the local
level, as I heard you. Can you expound? What exactly do you
mean by that, that they need to take leadership at the local
level?
Mr. Berg. I think there are two things I mean by that. One
is within a community, in every community in this country,
there are people working on the issue of homelessness. There
are HUD-funded programs. There are HHS-funded programs. There
are VA programs. A lot of times, those programs don't
necessarily work together around veterans, around the simple
things of, you know, if you are going to really be serious
about reducing and ending veterans homelessness in the
community, you have to find the veterans who are homeless, find
the veterans who are about to become homeless, make sure
somebody is doing that, and then find the housing resources
that are going to be available and the other kinds of resources
that are going to be needed for those veterans.
So it is a matter of reaching out to different people in
the community, to leaders in the community, to federally funded
programs, to private programs, bringing them together around
this task of, in this community, we are going to identify
veterans who are homeless and we are going to get them into
housing and we are going to chip away at the numbers until we
reduce the number to zero.
So it is that kind of leadership, and it is also just the
leadership of making sure that help with housing is available
to veterans who turn to the VA. I mean, right now--and this is
changing because of HUD-VASH--but in the past, the VA just
hasn't had housing resources other than the 2-year transitional
programs, which are limited in number and really just not
really enough of that to really cover the scope at all. So
veterans would come in--homeless veterans would come in, or
people about to losing their housing would come in and there
was no help to give them. And so it is making sure that an
array of housing resources are available and there are people
at the VA who can work with landlords and help resolve housing
problems.
Chairman Menendez. Mr. Fanous, you talked about the
fragmentation. So if you had a magic wand and could make what
you think is the best coordinated effort to take place, what
would it be?
Mr. Fanous. Well, honestly, Senator, I believe that the
most important thing would be to have all the stakeholders who
are providing care for veterans, they should be localized and
put into one location. When a veteran has to travel from the VA
in one part of the State and has to go to the Social Security
Administration in another part of the State, and then he has to
go to the Salvation Army or the G.I. Go Fund and he has got to
drive all over the State, many times, they don't have enough
money to put gas in their car.
It just gets that simple, that the facilities all have to
be together in one centralized location, which is something
that we are hoping to work on in the city of Newark, was create
a mall of services, you know, just a one-stop--a legitimate
one-stop mall of services, where one office would be Social
Security Administration, one office would be the VA, one office
would be various nonprofits that can support veterans. If a
veteran can just walk into one spot--which is kind of what the
VA's War-Related Illness Injury Center has at the VA, where
they try to handle all medical issues at one point, if you can
try to handle all issues completely, veterans' issues from the
Department of Labor, every single one of those departments, it
is the best chance you are going to have to helping veterans.
Otherwise, it is going to stay fragmented, because if a
veteran goes to the VA and he talks to one person, he might not
know that he has to go to the Social Security Administration.
He might not be getting the right information, which is what
happens every single day. I see it every single day in my
office. It sounds like it is easily fixed, but I haven't found
a way to do so.
It is just every single veteran that I see in my office
that comes in with a problem, it is because they didn't handle
a certain part of their transition. Something was missing,
whether it be the employment, whether it be the VA, whether it
be the education, whether it be something, they missed
something. And unless everybody is housed together and
providing services for them together, I don't see how it is
going to change.
Chairman Menendez. So a holistic, one-stop----
Mr. Fanous. Right.
Chairman Menendez. ----service effort is what you are
talking about.
Mr. Fanous. Right. Like our office serves as a one-stop,
where we have information from every office. However, I don't
think that is as effective as it would be if every agency was
housed in one building for veterans.
Chairman Menendez. Ms. Guy, you gave us a little bit of an
insight in your testimony. Women are now 15 percent of the
Armed Services of the United States. I am wondering, from your
own experience, and maybe from fellow soldiers who are women,
what do you think are the biggest obstacles faced by returning
female veterans that are not addressed by the programs that
have, obviously because of our history, traditionally been
designed for men? What do you think, if you had a magic wand
and could tailor something that is particularly responsive to
female veterans returning, particularly in this whole field of
homelessness and related services, what would it be?
I got a little sense from your statement that you are a
little frustrated with trying to figure out where to get help
and how to coordinate it, and you are lucky to have your
Congressman be responsible and hook you up, so to speak, but--
--
Ms. Guy. Right. I just want to say that he really hit the
nail on the head as far as the issue, and it is not just, you
know, female veterans, but all veterans. I go to Iraq War
Veterans group meeting for soldiers that have post-traumatic
stress disorder and TBI, things like that, and our biggest
issues--most of them are male. I think every now and then I
might get another female. But most of the time, it is just me.
When I listen to everybody, their biggest complaint is the fact
that they don't know where they are supposed to go and they
don't know the things that are out there for them. And one of
the big things that we discuss is, like if I know something
that they don't know, we talk about it and they will write
things down. We share information, and that is how we find out
things.
But from a female perspective, I think my biggest issue is,
just like every other issue that the other veterans have, mine
is compounded with becoming a female again, you know, learning
how to talk to people, not like--you know, most people that see
me now would never believe that I was a veteran, that I was a
soldier. They don't understand how I did it. But I had to
change my whole train of--my whole way of thinking being I was
a soldier. I wasn't a female. I was a soldier. And so now, I am
a female again and it is a hard transition. I know the VA is
not going to necessarily help me with that, but being--the
Philadelphia VA is really good with their program that they
have there for female veterans. They have a women's center
where it is in the hospital, and if you have any issues, your
primary care doctor, everybody is right in there.
But as far as, like, going to physical therapy and the
Social Security Administration building and all that, I mean,
they are all over the place, and if I didn't have a vehicle,
like most of these veterans don't have, you are not going to
fight. After a while, they are just going to get frustrated,
because on top of trying to get all of these things done with
the VA, they are still trying to find a job, still trying to
find somewhere to live, still dealing with their mental issues,
and they get tired.
And guess what? When they get tired, they say, you know
what? I am just going to have a drink. I am just going to sit
down in my basement or somebody's basement or wherever and I am
just going to drink myself to death, or whatever it is that
they--you know, it is a hard thing, being a veteran, because
those issues never go away. A lot of them still have that
battle mind, and you don't--they don't know how to turn it off.
And until they learn how to turn it off and live a normal life,
it is going to be the same way that it is now.
Chairman Menendez. Mr. Wise, I saw you shaking your head
there a couple of times--in agreement, it seemed like. You
talked about the longer-term program that has worked for you.
What were the elements of that that worked for you that didn't
work with other programs that you had been involved with?
Mr. Wise. Well, I think the staff there, you know, they had
a staff that was really helpful in getting veterans back on
their feet and they were really attuned to the different kinds
of veterans that would come through, whereas on the mental
level or a psychological level, they say someone would fail--
would not try because he was afraid to fail, something on that
note. They would notice that and encourage you to try a little
more or something like that. With that being asked all the
time, one can incorporate that and start to ask themselves
that, you know, like be self-aware of what I wasn't doing, to
look at a situation as a problem or an obstacle, where before
it wasn't, you know, much to look at, but it was still there.
You know, you can't address what you don't see.
So there, with the counselors and the nurse, I got to see
some certain things that I couldn't see before, you know, like,
where did that come from? And it was there long before. And you
have something to look forward to, like not just completion. At
first, you are so--I am so happy and secure to be there, like
in the first couple of months, you know. Now I am getting close
to the end. I am ready to transition, not like I was kicked out
in 120 days from another place. It is time to go. I am really
ready to go now and it was a process. It is a heartfelt
process, and not just forced because my days are up. That is
the best thing about it, the self-awareness and the ability to
help yourself and not afraid to ask for help, which was really
hard and still is kind of hard for me to do.
Chairman Menendez. Thank you. That is very insightful.
All right, Ms. Lilliston, last word. I heard your
testimony. I understand what you want us to do legislatively.
But if you had, again, a magic wand and you singularly said,
Senator, one, two, three, what would it be?
Ms. Lilliston. Well, I think we have all heard some great
examples of the successes that have been going on the past
years, and I would say, you know, I urge everyone to continue
the great work that we have done, continue putting in the
resources where we need them the most, in prevention and the
strategies for housing and the supportive services that go with
them. Those are the things that veterans need in order to be
successful and continue in order to either prevent homelessness
or get them out of the part that they need the most.
You know, I don't--the magic wand, I think, is great, but I
think everyone is going to have a success story that is unique
to themselves. And allowing organizations and allowing
communities to be able to provide those services that are
unique to each veteran, but still provide those tools and
resources to get them out of homeless or prevent them from
being homeless are the key things that we should take and we
should think about moving forward.
Chairman Menendez. All right. Well, I appreciate that Mr.
Dougherty stayed and listened to the series of comments here. I
heard a lot of commonality, and one thread of that is certainly
some type of holistic, coordinated approach so that a veteran
doesn't get bounced from location to location to location to
deal with all of their challenges is part of our challenge on
homelessness, as well as their own reintegration to our society
after they serve their country. That is one clear take-away for
me.
Obviously, the HUD-VASH Program seems like it is the type
of program that we want to expand on and that is providing a
real sense of opportunity and a way in which when we say,
welcome home, we mean it at the end of the day.
Well, thank you all for your testimony. The record is going
to remain open for 2 days so that other Members who had
conflicts or others who have additional questions--I am sorry,
it is going to be open for 1 week because we are going to
obviously have a lot of questions here. It will be open for 1
week. If you do receive questions from Members of the
Committee, we would ask you to answer them as expeditiously as
possible. It will help us fill the record and work on some of
these legislative solutions.
We thank you all for your testimony. Ms. Guy and Mr. Wise,
thank you for your service to this country.
With that, this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
[Prepared statements and responses to written questions
supplied for the record follow:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN CHRISTOPHER J. DODD
I want to begin by thanking Subcommittee Chairman Menendez for
holding this important hearing.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day, a day to mark the service and sacrifice
of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen.
But more than 131,000 men and women who wore the uniform of the
United States of America--nearly one in every 172 vets--will be
homeless tonight. And during the course of the year, more than a
quarter million veterans experience homelessness. One in four homeless
Americans is a vet.
That is unacceptable.
The Obama administration has recently committed to ending
homelessness among veterans within 5 years, and I commend that
commitment. According to Secretary Shinseki and our witnesses today,
the Administration's holistic approach to the problem encompasses the
various services a vet may need to escape or avoid homelessness:
education, jobs, health care, housing, and other support services. I
look forward to learning more about the Administration's proposal, and
I offer them my support and assistance.
Unfortunately, the struggle to access benefits is a common one for
the veterans who have earned them. Too often, Federal agency silos and
fragmented programs stand between vets and the support services they
need. That has to change.
I am encouraged by the partnerships being forged between the
Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Veterans'
Administration that have helped connect vets with housing vouchers and
support services through the HUD-VASH program. And I intend to continue
working with HUD, the VA, the Interagency Council on Homelessness, and
other Federal agencies to encourage a coordinated approach and
eliminate structural barriers in our system.
In addition, I remain concerned with the situation of female
veterans--women being increasingly represented in our armed forces--and
veterans with children, who have special needs when it comes to housing
and health care. When a loved one goes off to serve in the armed
forces, their family shares the burden. Multiple deployments put
tremendous financial and emotional strains on the spouses and children
of our troops. That's why I've fought to expand benefits for military
families under the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act. And
that's why we must take special steps to ensure that those who have
borne such a burden in defense of our country do not face the threat of
homelessness.
We are all glad that thousands of veterans of Operation Iraqi
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom are now, and will continue to
be, returning home. But for many, home is a very different place than
the one they left. With an economy in turmoil and high unemployment,
the customary challenges many face when reintegrating into society are
only magnified.
But we can build upon the lessons of the past two decades of
antihomelessness research and practice to offer these veterans better
solutions and support than ever before.
In her written testimony, Sergeant Lila Guy--herself an Iraq war
veteran who found help through the HUD-VASH program--states that
``veterans have served their country well and I believe the least they
can get for their service is help finding a place to live.''
I agree. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF MERCEDES MARQUEZ
Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, Department
of Housing and Urban Development
November 10, 2009
Introduction
Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Vitter, Members of the
Subcommittee, I am pleased to be here today to represent the Department
of Housing and Urban Development. My name is Mercedes Marquez, the
Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development. My office
seeks to develop viable communities by promoting integrated approaches
that provide decent housing, a suitable living environment, and expand
economic opportunities for low and moderate income persons. I oversee,
among other things, the Department's efforts to confront the housing
and service needs of homeless persons. This responsibility includes
confronting the needs of our country's homeless veterans and their
families. As President Obama has said, ``Too many who once wore our
Nation's uniform now sleep in our Nation's streets.'' Last week
Secretary Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs plans
for ending homelessness among veterans. HUD fully supports these
efforts. HUD provides housing and needed supports to homeless veterans
through the Department's targeted homeless assistance programs, as well
as through mainstream HUD resources.
The Department administers a variety of programs that can serve
veterans. These include the Housing Choice Voucher Program, Public
Housing, HOME Investment Partnerships, and the Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) program. These programs, by statute, provide great
flexibility so that communities can use these Federal resources to meet
their local needs, including the needs of their veterans. In addition
to these programs, Congress has authorized a variety of targeted
programs for special needs populations, including for persons who are
homeless.
Unfortunately, veterans are well represented in the homeless
population. HUD is committed to serving homeless veterans and
recognizes that Congress charges HUD to serve all homeless groups.
HUD's homeless assistance programs serve single individuals as well as
families with children. Our programs serve persons who are disabled,
including those who are impaired by substance abuse, severe mental
illness and physical disabilities as well as persons who are not
disabled. HUD provides an array of housing and supportive services to
all homeless groups, including homeless veterans.
Targeted HUD Homeless Assistance Grants
In February 2009, HUD competitively awarded approximately $1.4
billion in targeted homeless assistance grants. A record 6,336 projects
received awards. It is important to note that veterans are eligible for
all of our homeless assistance programs and HUD emphasizes the
importance of serving veterans in its grant application. Communities
may submit veteran-specific projects or projects that support a general
homeless population that includes veterans. In this competition, HUD
awarded 136 projects that specifically target veterans. There were
1,079 additional projects awarded that will serve a broader population,
which include veterans.
To underscore our continued commitment to serve homeless veterans,
we have highlighted veterans in our annual planning and application
process. In the annual grant application we encourage organizations
that represent homeless veterans to be at the planning table. Because
of HUD's emphasis, communities have active homeless veteran
representation. We also require that communities identify the number of
homeless persons who are veterans so that each community can more
effectively address their needs.
HUD-VASH
The Congress provided $75 million in both 2008 and 2009 for the
HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program, called HUD-VASH. The
HUD-VASH program combines HUD Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance
(administered through HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing) for
homeless veterans with case management and clinical services provided
by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at its medical centers in
the community. Through this partnership, HUD and VA will provide
permanent housing and services for approximately 20,000 homeless
veterans and their family members, including veterans who have become
homeless after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The VA is working with
local organizations, including those in HUD's Continuum of Care, to
help identify eligible clients and provide needed support. HUD-VASH
will make a significant impact on those who bravely served this great
Nation and who have been left on our streets.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Funding
ARRA provides unprecedented funding to HUD and other Federal
agencies to directly confront the very difficult economic times in
which we live. Overall HUD is responsible for $13.6 billion in ARRA
funds for housing and community development. The ARRA Homelessness
Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) is specifically targeted
to confront homelessness. HPRP provides $1.5 billion to communities
nationwide. These funds were awarded to States, metropolitan cities,
urban counties and territories.
The funds are now being used by grantees and subgrantees, including
nonprofit organizations, to provide an array of prevention assistance
to persons, including veterans, who but for this assistance would need
to go to a homeless shelter. The program will also be used to rapidly
rehouse persons who have become homeless. Program funds can be used to
provide financial assistance (e.g., rental assistance and security
deposits) and housing stabilization services (e.g., case management,
legal services, and housing search). The HPRP funding notice expressly
references that the program can serve homeless veterans and that
program funds can be used to provide to homeless veterans with security
deposits and HUD-VASH can be used for long-term rental assistance.
Deputy Secretary Ron Sims highlighted the potential to use HPRP funds
to serve homeless veterans in a keynote address at VA's National Summit
on Homeless Veterans, held last week.
HPRP represents a unique opportunity for communities. This
significant level of funding--which equals the approximate level of
funding historically appropriated by Congress for all of HUD's other
homeless programs combined--will enable communities to reshape their
local homeless systems. For the first time, communities now have
targeted funding to prevent homelessness. In the past, virtually all of
HUD's homeless-related programs could only assist persons after they
became homeless. These funds have the potential to assist persons at
risk, including veterans, stay in their homes rather than be relegated
to moving themselves and their families to emergency shelters, or
worse, the streets. HPRP also will allow communities to significantly
reduce the time that veterans and others must stay in emergency
shelters, as HPRP can be used to immediately rehouse persons in
conventional housing and also provide temporary supports such as case
management to help ensure housing stability. These two components--
homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing--have been the missing
links in each communities' Continuum of Care system. Communities now
have the tools they need to effectively confront homelessness.
Importantly, the new approaches that communities implement with HPRP
will have the potential to be carried on, thanks to legislation
recently passed by the Congress and enacted by the President on May 20,
2009.
New HUD Homeless Programs
The recently enacted Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid
Transition to Housing Act (HEARTH) provides unprecedented flexibility
to confronting homelessness. The Act consolidates HUD's existing
competitive homeless programs into a single, streamlined program, the
Continuum of Care Program. The program requires that all stakeholders--
including veterans organizations--determine how the funds should be
used. The law also reforms the Emergency Shelter Grants program into
the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program. The new ESG will provide
for flexible prevention and rapid-rehousing responses to homelessness
so that veterans and others who are either at risk or who literally
become homeless may receive assistance. Finally, the legislation
provides for the Rural Housing Stability Assistance Program to provide
targeted assistance to rural areas. HEARTH includes as a selection
criterion for grant award the extent to which the applicant addresses
the needs of all subpopulations, which includes veterans.
Veteran Homeless Prevention Demonstration
The 2009 Appropriations Act provides HUD with $10 million for a
demonstration program to prevent homelessness among veterans as part of
the appropriation for HUD's homeless programs. HUD is working with the
VA to design and implement this initiative. Urban and rural sites will
be selected. The demonstration funds may be used to provide both
housing and services to prevent veterans and their families from
becoming homeless or to reduce the length of time veterans and their
families are homeless. HUD intends to conduct an evaluation of this
demonstration, with funds provided for by the Congress, and then share
the results widely through HUD's technical assistance resources to
organizations serving veterans.
Interagency Collaboration on Homeless Veterans Issues
Secretary Shaun Donovan is the current Chair of the U.S.
Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH). Secretary Donovan has met
with VA Secretary Shinseki to discuss the needs of homeless veterans
and how our agencies can work collaboratively to solve this problem.
Historically HUD and VA have been involved in several
collaborations related to homelessness among veterans. The agencies are
currently working together in implementing and operating HUD-VASH.
Another joint initiative involved reducing chronic homelessness, in
which HUD provided the housing assistance and the VA and the Department
of Health and Human Services provided support services to chronically
homeless persons. HUD is also an ex-officio member of the Secretary of
VA's Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans The Committee met last
week and HUD discussed resources and strategies that can be brought to
bear on housing homeless veterans.
Technical Assistance
To coordinate veterans' efforts within HUD, to reach out to
veterans organizations, and to help individual veterans, HUD
established the HUD Veterans Resource Center. The Center, headed by a
veteran, has a 1-800 number to take calls from veterans and to help
address their individual needs. The Resource Center works with each
veteran to connect them to resources in their own community.
HUD's Homelessness Resource Exchange (located at www.HUDHRE.info)
is HUD's one-stop shop for information and resources for people and
organizations who want to help persons who are homeless or at risk of
becoming homeless. It provides an overview of HUD homeless and housing
programs, our national homeless assistance competition, technical
assistance information, and more.
The HUDHRE has a number of materials that address homeless veterans
issues. For example, HUD dedicated approximately $350,000 to enhance
the capacity of organizations that do or want to specifically focus on
serving homeless veterans, update existing technical assistance
materials, and coordinate with VA's homeless planning networks. As a
result, we developed two technical assistance guidebooks, available on
the Web site. The first guidebook, Coordinating Resources and
Developing Strategies to Address the Needs of Homeless Veterans,
describes programs serving veterans that are effectively coordinating
HUD homeless funding with other resources. The second guidebook, A
Place at the Table: Homeless Veterans and Local Homeless Assistance
Planning Networks, describes the successful participation of ten
veterans' organizations in their local Continuums of Care.
Additionally, we have held national conference calls and workshops to
provide training and assistance to organizations that are serving, or
planning to serve, homeless veterans.
Conclusion
Again, I want to reiterate my and HUD's desire and commitment to
help end homelessness among our veterans by working effectively with
our Federal, State, and local partners.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF PETER H. DOUGHERTY
Director of Homeless Veterans Programs, Department of Veterans Affairs
November 10, 2009
Good Morning Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member. Thank you for the
opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee. You have called us here
today to discuss an issue of great importance: Veteran homelessness,
and what the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is doing to end
homelessness among Veterans. Tragically, Veterans are overrepresented
among the homeless, and we must do more to end this scourge. We now
estimate that 131,000 Veterans live on the streets of the wealthiest
and most powerful Nation in the world; far too many, but a significant
decline from 195,000 homeless Veterans 6 years ago. Some of those
homeless are here in Washington, DC--men and women, young and old,
fully functioning and disabled, even the current operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
VA's goal is to have a ``no wrong door'' approach so that Veterans
who seek assistance directly from VA's programs, from community
partners or through contract services will be able to access the needed
services. VA has the Nation's largest integrated network of homeless
assistance programs. We have a strong track record in helping homeless
Veterans; a study completed several years ago found approximately 80
percent of Veterans who complete a VA program are successfully housed 1
year after treatment. In fiscal year (FY) 2010, VA expects to spend a
total of $3.2 billion to provide health care and specialized homeless
programs, which includes $500 million in targeted programs for homeless
programs this fiscal year. VA social workers and clinicians work with
community and faith-based partners to conduct extensive outreach
programs, clinical assessments, medical treatments, alcohol and drug
abuse counseling and employment assistance.
VA's 5-Year Plan on Ending Veteran Homelessness
We have a goal of ending homelessness among our Nation's Veterans
within 5 years, which Secretary Shinseki announced last week. We
formally announced that goal last week at a national summit on ending
homelessness among Veterans. The Secretary's plan for achieving that
goal includes bold new measures that will focus on both serving those
who are seriously impaired and attacking this problem with preventive
measures like discharge planning for incarcerated Veterans reentering
society, supportive services for low-income Veterans and their
families, and a national referral center to link Veterans to local
service providers. Additionally, we will expand efforts for education,
jobs, health care (including mental health care) and housing.
One of VA's most successful tools has been our partnership with the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is where public
housing authorities receive housing choice vouchers and VA provides
dedicated case management to appropriate homeless Veterans who need and
are willing to accept services. We will expand our collaboration on the
HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program to provide 20,000 Housing
Choice vouchers to Veterans and their families, and we will partner
with HUD to develop new pilot programs to test a program for at-risk
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) Veterans and
families with homeless prevention services. In Fiscal Year 2009, there
was a $10 million HUD appropriation and $5 million VA appropriation for
a demonstration program on the prevention of homelessness among the
Nation's veterans. Our collaboration with HUD has also grown in scale
and produced measurable results. In 2008, HUD provided 10,150 HUD-VASH
vouchers for homeless Veterans. Thanks to the continuing support of
Congress and the personal leadership of House and Urban Development
Secretary Shaun Donovan, HUD-VASH II, approved in 2009 for 2010
implementation, provides 10,290 more vouchers. HUD-VASH vouchers enable
housing for single Veterans or Veterans with families. Of the 13,000
Veterans accepted for HUD-VASH housing, 11 percent are women, and
another 12 percent are Veterans with family members. Safe housing is a
critical step to ending homelessness among Veterans, especially among
women Veterans and Veterans with children. This effort is having very
positive results, and we thank Congress for authorizing this very
effective and beneficial tool.
We are also making enhanced efforts to provide opportunities to
return Veterans to employment, including the new Post-9/11 GI Bill. The
new GI Bill is providing a powerful option for qualified Veterans to
pursue a fully funded degree program at a State college or university
and will serve as a major component of the fight against Veteran
homelessness.
This program will require close partnership with Federal and State
agencies, local, nonprofit, and private groups; outreach and education
to Veterans, people and organizations providing services to Veterans,
and the general public; universal and targeted prevention; treatment
focused on recovery and tailored to individual Veterans' needs; housing
and supportive services; and income, employment and benefits
assistance.
For example, we will continue our collaborative efforts with the
Department of Labor to provide employment services. VA is working with
the Small Business Administration and the General Services
Administration to certify Veteran-owned small businesses and service-
disabled Veteran-owned small businesses for listing on the Federal
Supply Schedules, which enhances their visibility and competitiveness,
creating jobs for Veterans. VA will also work closely with the
Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Housing
and Urban Development, the Small Business Administration, the U.S.
Interagency Council on Homelessness, State directors of Veterans
Affairs, and Veterans Service Organizations, as well as national,
State, and local service providers and community groups.
We think we are making appropriate efforts to have the right
partners, the right plans, and the right programs in place on safe
housing. We will monitor and adjust the balance as required to continue
increasing our gains in eliminating Veteran homelessness. We are moving
in the right direction to remove this blot on our consciences, but we
have more work to do.
At the summit on ending Veteran homelessness last week, we shared
ideas on new efforts. During this conference, approximately 1,200
homeless service providers from Federal and State agencies, the
business community, and faith-based and community providers
participated and discussed the Department's 5-year plan.
Effectively addressing homelessness requires breaking the downward
spiral that leads Veterans into homelessness. We must continue to
improve treatment for substance abuse, depression, traumatic brain
injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); better
educational and vocational options, better employment opportunities;
and more opportunities for safe and hospitable housing. Early
intervention and prevention of homelessness among Veterans is critical.
We have to do it all; we simply cannot afford any missed opportunities.
We will leave no opportunity unexplored, and we will continue this
pursuit until every Veteran has safe housing available and access to
needed treatment services. We are eager to work together with Congress
to achieve these goals.
Continuing Efforts
VA partners with more than 600 community organizations to provide
transitional housing to 20,000 Veterans. It also works with 240 public
housing authorities to provide permanent housing to homeless Veterans
and their families under a partnership with the Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
Earlier this year, we established the National Center on
Homelessness Among Veterans. The Center will work to ensure homeless or
at-risk Veterans and their families receive timely, practice-proven
services to either prevent homelessness or exit homelessness. The
primary goal of the Center is to develop, promote, and enhance policy,
clinical care research, and education to improve homeless services so
that Veterans may live as independently and self-sufficiently as
possible in a community of their choosing. We believe the Center will
be a national resource for both VA and community partners, improving
the quality and timeliness of services delivered to homeless or at-risk
Veterans and their dependents.
In October, Secretary Shinseki announced that 29 grants were
awarded to create new transitional housing under our Homeless Grant and
Per Diem (GPD) program in 19 States, the District of Columbia and
Puerto Rico. This initiative will share more than $17 million in grants
to community groups to create 1,155 beds for homeless Veterans this
year. For example, this program will support:
four programs in New York and more than 160 beds;
one program in Oregon with 10 beds;
one program in South Carolina providing almost 100 beds;
one project in Tennessee with 14 beds; and
two projects in Texas that will offer more than 200 beds,
as well as two vans.
These grants will aid our efforts to eliminate homelessness among
those who have served in uniform. Our partnerships with community-based
organizations provide safe, transitional housing while these Veterans
leverage VA's health care and other benefits to return to productive
lives.
This year, VA implemented new safety standards in the facilities
providing Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment
Programs, including 24/7 staffing and keyless entry. Our GPD program
activated 55 new projects for a total of 1,090 beds since October 2008.
New homeless prevention initiatives assist Veterans at risk for
homelessness to maintain their residences in the community by
addressing factors which lead to becoming homeless.
Mental Health Care
The psychological consequences of combat affect every generation of
Veterans. VA now employs 18,000 mental health professionals to address
their mental health needs. We know if we diagnose and treat, people can
improve. If we don't, they won't--and sometimes their problems become
debilitating. We understand some see a stigma attached to seeking
mental health care, but we are not going to be dissuaded. We have
integrated mental health care into primary care settings to help
identify Veterans at risk and provide them treatment before their
conditions worsen. We will not give up on any of our Veterans with
mental health challenges, and particularly not the homeless. At the end
of October, VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) cosponsored a
national summit on mental health care to help both agencies better
coordinate mental health care for those who serve our country and those
who formerly wore the uniform.
Newest Generation of Veterans
We know from past experience that homelessness among Veterans peaks
7-10 years after military service, and we are conducting aggressive
early intervention now to ensure Operation Enduring Freedom and
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans do not have that same
experience. Our current efforts have reached nearly 3,800 OEF/OIF
Veterans, more than 1,100 of whom have sought homeless specific housing
or treatment services. Since 2003, VA has expedited 28,000 claims for
compensation and pension for Veterans who are homeless or at-risk of
homelessness.
Incarcerated Veterans
Every year, 40,000 Veterans are released from prison. This is part
and parcel of the larger discussion about homelessness. We recognize
the needs of Veterans who have been incarcerated, and in 2009, VA
implemented a new initiative to support State and local Veterans Court
Programs. This program provides VA health care instead of incarceration
for eligible Veterans with substance use disorders, PTSD or mental
health conditions. Our Incarcerated Veterans Re-Entry program has
contacted and supported more than 13,000 Veterans since 2007 and has
contacts in more than 1,000 Federal and State prisons across the
country (two-thirds of all prisons). Veterans Justice Outreach
Specialists are working with courts to develop relationships and
referral procedures.
We are reaching out to courts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and
police and other first responders. We began training these specialists
in September. This complements existing VA programs that provide
outreach to incarcerated Veterans. We have received enthusiastic
responses from State Supreme Court Justices, Judges, Veterans Service
Organizations and State Directors of Veterans Affairs. VA is working to
overcome homelessness with programs that impact high-risk individuals
such as Veterans involved in the Criminal Justice System. VA will
provide additional training in FY2010, and will continue outreach to
State Attorneys General, American Bar Association and national bar
associations.
Helping Veteran Homeowners
Another key element of our strategy to end homelessness among
Veterans is to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.
Section 604 of Public Law 110-387, codified at 38 U.S.C. 2044, provides
VA with authority to offer grants to organizations offering supportive
services for low-income Veterans and their families. VA is currently
developing regulations to implement this legislation. The
Administration has pursued a number of initiatives to keep such
homeowners, including Veterans, in their residences. In addition, the
Veterans Benefits Administration offers assistance to Veterans who
encounter problems making their mortgage payments. When a VA-guaranteed
home loan becomes delinquent, the loan servicer has the primary
responsibility of servicing the loan to help cure the default. VA
provides financial incentives for servicers who arrange reasonable
repayment plans or pursue other home retention options for Veterans.
In some cases loan modification may help make payments more
affordable, and VA made extensive rule changes in early 2008 to make
loan modifications easier for servicers to arrange. However, in cases
where the servicer is unable to help the Veteran borrower retain the
home or find a suitable alternative to foreclosure, VA's Loan Guaranty
Service has Loan Technicians in nine Regional Loan Centers and the
Hawaii Regional Office who review all cases prior to foreclosure to
evaluate the adequacy of the loan servicing. Loan Technicians may
initiate supplemental servicing by contacting the Veteran to determine
whether any further assistance is possible, and Veterans may also call
a nationwide toll-free contact number at any time during the process to
receive loan counseling from VA.
In other cases, VA will purchase a loan from the holder and modify
the terms so that a Veteran can retain his or her home. The Regional
Loan Centers can also provide advice and guidance to Veterans with non-
VA guaranteed home loans, but VA does not have the legal authority or
standing to intervene on the borrower's behalf in these situations.
Under the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-
389), Veterans with non-VA guaranteed home loans have new options for
refinancing to a VA guaranteed loan. Veterans who wish to refinance
their subprime or conventional mortgage may do so for up to 100 percent
of the value of the property, generally up to a maximum of $417,000.
High-cost counties have even higher maximum guaranty amounts, which can
result in higher maximum loan limits. These changes allow more
qualified Veterans to refinance through VA, allowing for savings on
interest costs and avoiding foreclosure. Additionally, some Veteran
borrowers may be able to request relief pursuant to the Servicemembers
Civil Relief Act (SCRA). In order to qualify for certain protections
available under the Act, the Veteran's obligation must have originated
prior to the current period of active military service. SCRA may
provide a lower interest rate or forbearance, or prevent foreclosure or
eviction, even after the borrower's period of military service ends.
Conclusion
Housing, health care, jobs, and education--these are the critical
areas where VA is focusing to address Veteran homelessness. We have
work to do here; but we have momentum, and we know where we are headed.
We are positively engaged with the Departments of Housing and Urban
Development, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and the Small
Business Administration to work our collaborative issues. I know that
Congress, Secretary Shinseki, and President Obama are committed to
helping VA end homelessness among Veterans. No one, who has served this
Nation, as our Veterans have, should ever find themselves living
without care--and without hope. I know that there are never any
absolutes in life, but unless we set an ambitious target, we would not
be giving this our very best efforts in education, jobs, mental health,
substance abuse, and housing.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. I am available to
answer any questions you may have.
PREPARED STATEMENT OF MELANIE LILLISTON
Director of Technical Assistance and Finance, National Coalition for
Homeless Veterans
November 10, 2009
Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Senator Vitter, and Distinguished
Members of the Committee: The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
(NCHV) is honored to appear before this Committee today to comment on
ending veterans' homelessness.
For 20 years, NCHV has worked diligently to serve as the Nation's
primary liaison between the community- and faith-based organizations
that help homeless veterans, the Congress, and the Federal agencies
that are invested in the campaign to end veteran homelessness in the
United States.
The efforts have been commendable and we are grateful that we have
such dedicated and passionate leadership within the Department of
Veterans Affairs, Department of Labor and the Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Through the VA's Grant and Per Diem program over
15,000 veterans are being served in transitional housing programs each
year. The Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP), administered
by the Department of Labor-Veterans Employment and Training Service,
has continued to grow each year and now serves veterans in nearly 100
communities throughout the country. HUD has expanded its efforts
through the HUD-VA Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) for those
veterans who have serious mental illness or disabilities that keep them
from living successfully on their own. Through these efforts and the
efforts of the community-based partners NCHV represents, we have made
significant progress in the effort to end veteran homelessness.
However, our work is not done until the last veteran is off the
streets.
In March of this year, President Obama stated, ``We will provide
new help for homeless Veterans because those heroes have a home--it's
the country they served, the United States of America. And until we
reach a day when not a single Veteran sleeps on our Nation's streets,
our work remains unfinished.'' This bold statement has served as the
catalyst for creating a 5-Year Plan To End Homelessness Among Veterans,
an initiative of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. Just last week at a summit
hosted by the VA, Secretary Shinseki stated, ``Let me reiterate that
this is not a summit on homeless veterans--it's a summit to end
homelessness among veterans. That's our purpose. President Obama and I
are personally committed to ending homelessness among veterans within
the next 5 years.''
To demonstrate his commitment, Secretary Shinseki has created a 5-
year plan that would expand the VA's partnerships and collaborations
between the Federal agencies and community-based service providers.
Four of the six strategic pillars of the plan build upon the work of
the past two decades: outreach, treatment, employment and benefits, and
community partnerships. Two represent new critical focuses--prevention,
and housing and supportive services for low-income veterans.
Currently there are 14 bills pending before the House of
Representatives and the Senate that would have a direct impact on the
delivery of services to homeless veterans and those at risk of becoming
homeless. These bills would move Secretary Shinseki's historic plan
forward.
NCHV acknowledges the leadership role of this Subcommittee, and
that of the full Committee, in this noble effort. There are three key
bills that lay the foundation on which we, as a Nation, can build a
successful, comprehensive campaign to end and prevent homelessness
among veterans and fulfill the Secretary's 5-Year Plan.
S. 1547--Zero Tolerance for Veteran Homelessness Act of 2009
For several years the homeless veteran assistance movement NCHV
represents has realized there can be no end to veteran homelessness
until we develop a strategy to address the needs of our former
guardians before they become homeless--victims of health and economic
misfortunes they cannot overcome without assistance.
The causes of all homelessness can be grouped into three primary
categories: health issues, economic issues, and lack of access to safe,
affordable housing for low- and extreme-low income families in most
American communities.
The additional stressors veterans experience are prolonged
separation from family and social support networks while engaging in
extremely stressful training and occupational assignments; war-related
illnesses and disabilities--both mental and physical; and the
difficulty of many to transfer military occupational skills into the
civilian workforce.
NCHV believes the Zero Tolerance for Veteran Homelessness Act of
2009, introduced by Senators Reed, Bond, Murray, Johnson, Kerry, and
Durbin--with the support of 12 cosponsors--has the potential to set
this Nation on course to finally achieve victory in the campaign to end
veteran homelessness in the United States.
Victory in this campaign requires success on two fronts--effective,
economical intervention strategies that help men and women rise above
adversity to regain control of their lives; and prevention strategies
that empower communities to support our wounded warriors and their
families before they lose their ability to cope with stressors beyond
their control.
We believe the Zero Tolerance for Veteran Homelessness Act
addresses needs on both fronts.
The Act provides for the expansion of HUD-VASH to a total
of 60,000 housing vouchers for veterans with serious mental and
emotional illnesses, other disabilities, and extreme low-income
veteran families that will need additional services to remain
housed. According to an analysis of data by the National
Alliance To End Homelessness, about 63,000 veterans can be
classified as chronically homeless. This Act would, therefore,
effectively end chronic veteran homelessness within the next 5
years.
The Act provides authorization for up to $50 million
annually to provide supportive services for low-income veterans
to reduce their risks of becoming homeless, and to help those
who are find housing. Provisions include short- to medium-term
rental assistance, poor credit history repair, housing search
and relocation assistance, and help with security and utilities
deposits. For many among the Nation's 630,000 veterans living
in extreme poverty (at or below 50 percent of the Federal
poverty level), this aid could mean the difference between
achieving stability and continuing on the downward spiral into
homelessness.
The Act would modernize the extremely important and
successful VA Grant and Per Diem Program (GPD) to allow for the
utilization of innovative project funding strategies--including
the use of low-income housing tax credits and matching funds
from other Government sources to facilitate and hasten project
development.
The Act calls for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
study the method of reimbursing GPD community providers for
their program expenses and report to Congress, within 1 year,
his recommendations for revising the payment system. For years
service providers have appealed for a system that reflects the
actual cost of providing services to veterans with multiple
barriers to recovery rather than a ``per diem'' rate based on
reimbursements paid to State veterans' homes.
The Act calls for an increase in the annual GPD
authorization to $200 million, beginning in FY2010, which could
provide additional funds for outreach through community-based
veteran service centers and mobile service vans for rural
areas, while continuing to increase the bed capacity of VA's
community-based partners. These outreach initiatives will
likely play a pivotal role as the VA's veteran homelessness
prevention strategy moves forward.
The Act would establish within HUD a Special Assistant for
Veterans Affairs to ensure veterans have access to housing and
homeless assistance programs funded by the Department.
S. 1160--The Homes for Heroes Act of 2009
One of the greatest challenges community-based organizations face
is how to provide long-term housing and services to veterans and their
families. Due to multiple deployments, financial difficulties,
disabilities sustained in combat and other family stressors, family
members and the children of veterans often are in need of support and
services when their loved ones come back from war. Currently,
community-based providers are unable to access dedicated funding to pay
for housing or services for veteran families. The Homes for Heroes Act
provides funding for the development of housing for low-income veteran
families and provides the mechanism to distribute these much needed
supportive services.
According to the 2009 VA CHALENG survey, long-term housing ranks in
the top 10 reported unmet needs of veterans. Finding and obtaining safe
and secure housing is often the biggest obstacle veterans in recovery
face. This bill will allow low- and extremely low-income veterans to
access housing and the vital services they need in order to be
successful citizens.
Introduced by Senator Charles Schumer, Durbin, Brown, and Menendez,
the Homes for Heroes Act would:
Provide $200 million annually for the development of
supportive housing for veterans who need case management and
wrap-around services to remain housed.
Fund 20,000 rental assistance vouchers for extremely low-
income veteran families (those living at or below 50 percent of
the Federal poverty level), estimated at approximately 630,000
veterans. These individuals represent those who are at highest
risk of becoming homeless and most in need of prevention
supports.
Create the position of veteran liaison within the
Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure veteran
inclusion in all HUD housing programs, and require inclusion of
veteran data in local housing plans.
More and more families are requesting services and affordable
housing, and providing this support would reduce the likelihood that
many veteran families in crisis will continue on a downward spiral into
homelessness.
S. 1237--Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless Veterans With Children
Act of 2009
One of the most daunting challenges in the campaign to end veteran
homelessness is presented by the changes in the demographics of this
special needs population. For the first time in American history, women
comprise more than 11 percent of the forces deployed to serve in the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Department of Defense (DoD)
figures early this year, including more than 30,000 single women with
dependent children (DoD, March 2009). The VA anticipates women will
account for 15 percent of the Nation's veterans within the next 10
years.
Because of the Nation's reliance on Reserve and National Guard
personnel, men and women must leave their families at the highest rate
since World War II--approximately half of them for multiple
deployments. This places considerable strain on family relationships,
which in turn makes the difficult process of readjustment to civilian
life after wartime service even more stressful.
Currently more than 5 percent of veterans requesting assistance
from VA and community-based homeless veteran service providers are
women. According to VA officials, more than half of these veterans are
between the ages of 20-29, a majority represent minority communities,
and roughly 24 percent are disabled or were medically retired from the
service. More than 10 percent of these women have dependent children.
Senators Murray, Johnson, and Reed, in introducing this bill,
recognize the same readjustment difficulties for single women veteran
parents are experienced by single male parents. During the last 2
years, more than 11 percent of male veterans receiving housing vouchers
in the HUD-VASH program are single parents with dependent children,
according to VA officials.
According to VA data in its annual CHALENG Reports, the highest
unmet needs of homeless single veterans with dependent children are:
Child care assistance
Legal aid for credit repair and child support issues
Access to affordable permanent housing
S. 1237 would authorize up to $10 million in grants to community-
and faith-based organizations to provide critical, specialized supports
for these deserving men and women as they work their way out of
homelessness. There are about 200 homeless veteran assistance providers
under the VA Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program (GPD) that
offer housing assistance for women veterans. More than 90 community-
based programs offer job preparation and placement assistance to
homeless veterans under the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program--
one of the most efficient, effective programs in the Department of
Labor portfolio.
These programs provide irrefutable evidence that stable, safe
transitional housing--with access to health and employment services--
empowers the great majority of homeless veterans to achieve self-
sufficiency within their eligibility limits. The addition of child care
assistance promises to enhance those successful outcomes through
supports that will enable veteran parents to pursue their employment
goals without having to worry about the health and safety of their
children.
NCHV believes this funding level would allow for immediate
implementation of an employment assistance program for homeless women
and homeless single parents with dependent children within an existing
and highly successful service provider community, and allow for
evaluation of the effectiveness of this innovative strategy.
In Summation
On this day before Veterans Day, I want to thank you for your
support helping the men and women who have served this country in their
greatest hour of need. The successes we have seen in decreasing the
number of homeless veterans over the last 5 years would not have
happened without your support and leadership.
These three bills are vital for the Secretary's Five-Year Plan to
move forward. From the increase in the number of HUD-VASH vouchers, and
the ability to provide supportive services for low-income and women
veterans, to the improvement and expansion of the GPD program, these
bills provide real opportunities to move the PLAN into ACTION and
fulfill the historic mission to end homelessness among America's former
guardians in 5 years.
Once again, on behalf of the veterans we all serve, thank you for
your support. I can think of no better way to say ''thank you'' to
those who have served this Nation than continuing to serve those
veterans who need our help the most.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF STEVEN R. BERG
Vice President for Programs and Policy, National Alliance To End
Homelessness
November 10, 2009
Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Shelby, and Members of the
Subcommittee, on behalf of our Board of Directors, our President Nan
Roman, and our thousands of partners across the country, I am honored
that you have invited the National Alliance To End Homelessness to
testify before you on veteran homelessness. Veteran homelessness is one
of the most pressing issues plaguing our Nation today, and by moving
toward a solution to this problem we are serving these men and women as
they have once done for us.
The National Alliance To End Homelessness is a nonpartisan,
nonprofit organization that was founded in 1983 by a group of leaders
deeply disturbed by the appearance of thousands of Americans living on
the streets of our Nation. We have committed ourselves to finding
permanent solutions to homelessness. Our bipartisan Board of Directors
and our thousands of nonprofit, faith-based, private and public sector
partners across the country devote ourselves to the affordable housing,
access to services, and livable incomes that will end homelessness. The
Alliance is recognized for its organization and dissemination of
research to encourage best practices and high standards in the field of
homelessness prevention and intervention and we wish to share our
insights with you today.
As our name implies, our primary focus is ending homelessness, not
simply making it easier to live with. We take this idea very seriously.
There is nothing inevitable about homelessness among veterans in the
United States. We know more about veteran homelessness and how to
address it than we ever have before, thanks in part to extensive
research. We know a great deal about the pathways into homelessness,
the characteristics of veterans who experience homelessness and the
interventions and program models which are effective in offering
reconnection to community and stable housing.
This testimony will summarize the research available on
homelessness among veterans and the most promising strategies currently
successful at addressing this issue in community settings, as well as
policy recommendations to implement these strategies to the national
scale.
Homelessness Among Veterans
Far too many veterans are homeless in America. In November 2007,
the Homelessness Research Institute of the National Alliance To End
Homelessness first published Vital Mission, Ending Homelessness Among
Veterans, quantifying this problem as well as reporting on housing
status among veterans. Today, the Alliance is publishing its second
annual update to this report, using new analysis and more recent date
to deepen our understanding of the issue. Today's update uses data from
homelessness counts that took place in early 2008, as well as other
sources. The update includes the following findings.
131,000 veterans were homeless at a point in time in early
2008. This number is lower than 2 years earlier, and it is
probable that some reductions had taken place, but much of the
reduction is due to methodological differences. It is also
possible that rapidly rising unemployment since early 2008 has
increased the number of homeless veterans in more recent
months.
58 out of every 10,000 veterans are homeless, a ratio more
than double the rate of homelessness within the nonveteran
population. This rate varies markedly by State and locality.
The demographic of homeless veterans follows the
demographic of the overall veteran population: women represent
a small but growing proportion of homeless veterans as well as
veterans overall. Veterans aged 55-64 represent 25 percent of
the homeless veteran population and 29 percent of the overall
veteran population.
Veteran homelessness tends to be concentrated near military
and veteran centers such as military bases and VA medical
centers. Texas, the State with the highest concentration of
military bases, is reported to have 9,063 homeless veterans.
Along with Louisiana, home to one of the larger VA medical
centers nationally, has 3,600 homeless veterans, a rate of 118
homeless veterans to every 10,000 overall Louisiana veteran
residents.
Housing Status of Veterans
What all homeless people have in common is the lack of a place to
live--homelessness is at base a problem of housing availability and
affordability. When we first analyzed this data, we assumed that the
disproportionate representation of veterans in the homeless population
must be due to the fact that veterans have housing problems. So we
looked at the housing situation of veterans more generally, examining
the American Community Survey data (for 2005--the most recent data
available at the time of the research). In fact, we found that, when
viewed as a group, veterans can typically afford their monthly housing
costs.
But while the average veteran is well housed, there is a subset of
veterans who rent housing and have severe housing cost burdens. Those
that are most vulnerable and/or face the worst crises, lose their
housing, have no other help available, and become homeless.
In 2005, 467,877 veterans were severely rent burdened and
were paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent.
Not surprisingly, many of these veterans were poor. More
than half (55 percent) of veterans with severe housing cost
burden fell below the poverty level and 43 percent were
receiving foods stamps.
California, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Hawaii were the
States with the highest percentage of veterans with severe
housing cost burden. The District of Columbia had the highest
rate, with 6.5 percent of veterans devoting more than 50
percent of their income to rent.
We examined the characteristics of this group of veterans paying
too much for housing and we found the following.
Veterans with a disability are more likely to have severe
housing cost burden. They are twice as likely to have a work
disability as other veterans (18 percent versus 9 percent).
Similarly, they are twice as likely to have a disability that
limits their mobility (20 percent versus 10 percent).
Female veterans are more likely to have housing cost
burdens. Although women are only 7 percent of veterans, they
represent 13.5 percent of veterans with housing cost burdens.
And while 13 percent of them have housing cost burdens, only 10
percent of male veterans have such burdens.
Unmarried veterans are more likely to have cost burdens by
a factor of nearly two. Thirteen percent of veterans who do not
have a spouse have severe housing cost burden versus 7 percent
of those who are married.
Period of service seems to matter. Veterans who left the
military between 1980 and 2003 are less likely than earlier
veterans to have housing cost burden. Somewhat surprisingly,
older veterans from the Korean War and World War II are more
likely to have housing cost burdens. These are comparisons of
rate. By sheer size, Vietnam War veterans make up the largest
group of those with housing cost burdens.
In 2005, approximately 89,553 to 467,877 veterans were at
risk of homelessness. The lower estimate is renters with
housing cost burden, living below the poverty level, disabled,
living alone, and not in the labor force. The upper estimate is
all renters with housing cost burden.
Needed Federal Response
Of all the population groups impacted disproportionately by
homelessness, veterans are the one where the Federal Government has
taken direct responsibility for the well-being of the entire group, as
it should be. The Federal Government, through the VA, is in a position
to set an example for how to safeguard a vulnerable population from
homelessness. At present, however, this is not being accomplished,
despite existing programmatic initiatives, and despite the fact that
sufficient understanding exists regarding the nature of homelessness
and the programmatic and policy responses needed to end it. The rest of
this testimony describes what is needed in order to complete this
response, and to reach a point where homelessness among veterans is not
only said to be intolerable, but is in fact not tolerated.
Across the country, leading communities have made substantial
progress at reducing the number of people who are homeless. The keys to
success have become well known:
Leadership that takes responsibility for achieving results.
Permanent supportive housing targeted at those who have
been homeless the longest and have the most severe
disabilities.
Prevention and rapid rehousing programs that solve people's
housing crises, preferably before they become homeless.
Collaboration with the entire range of systems that impact
the problem, around the goal of ending homelessness.
To achieve these ends for veterans, the Alliance recommends the
following:
Pass the Homes for Heroes Act (S. 1160) to create a HUD sponsored
permanent supportive housing production program. For disabled low
income veterans who require ongoing services in order to stay stably
housed, permanent supportive housing is a proven solution. This program
is a needed companion to the widely popular HUD-VASH program, in that
it would help provide housing stock for homeless and at risk veterans.
Continue to expand the HUD-VA Supportive Housing program. This
proven program provides rental assistance through HUD's popular Section
8 voucher program; and case management, treatment and support services
through the VA. It replicates the highly successful model of permanent
supportive housing, getting veterans with the most severe, permanent
disabilities off the streets for good. Permanent supportive housing for
all veterans who need this level of intensive intervention to escape
homelessness will require 60,000 HUD-VASH vouchers and accompanying
case management and services. Funding for 20,000 has already been
appropriated, and 10,000 more are included in House and Senate FY2010
appropriations bills.
Give the VA the authority to run larger scale homelessness
prevention and rapid rehousing programs. Allowing the VA to provide
homeless prevention and rapid rehousing services is a key intervention
in communities that have had success with homelessness. This means
reaching out to veterans who either have recently lost their housing or
are in danger of doing so; working with landlords and family members to
resolve conflicts; working to give the veteran access to employment,
benefits, health care, and other needed income and services; and
providing short term cash assistance to pay a security deposit, catch
up on unpaid rent, etc. In the Senate, the Zero Tolerance for Veterans
Homelessness Act would authorize such a program.
Support results-oriented VA homelessness programs. Existing VA
homelessness programs such as the Homeless Grants and Per Diem Program,
providing temporary housing and treatment for veterans for whom an
abstinence model is appropriate, are in the process of being expanded
through the appropriations process. These programs also require policy
adjustments to allow better cooperation with other Federal housing
programs, more flexibility, and a greater focus on outcomes and
appropriate targeting.
Conclusion
I am not happy to report that our Nation now has some 20 years of
experience on the issue of homeless veterans. We know that while some
veterans become homeless immediately after discharge, for many more
their difficulties take years to emerge. We know that post-traumatic
stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and other factors of war may
make them vulnerable to increasing poverty and housing problems. And we
know that housing and supportive housing are a solution to these
problems.
Tens of thousands of veterans will be returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan. While some have already experienced homelessness, the
numbers are not large. Experience from the Vietnam era, however,
teaches that there is a possibility of delayed impact of combat service
on homelessness, especially when veterans are returning to high
unemployment. If we do not take advantage of all that we have learned
about solutions to homelessness, in the future we can expect to see
thousands more veterans on our streets and in our shelters.
We have a tremendous opportunity before us. There is unprecedented
public will that we not make the same mistakes with the veterans of the
current conflicts as we did with veterans from the Vietnam era and
after, and that we do whatever is necessary to prevent these veterans
being consigned to the streets. That same public will gives us an
opportunity as well to rectify those previous mistakes, and house
veterans who have lived in the street for years. Now is the time to be
bold. We can prevent veterans from becoming homeless. We can house
those veterans who are already homeless. And we can ensure that all
veterans, including those with low incomes, have stable, decent and
affordable housing. This is our vital mission.
Thank you for inviting us to testify before you today on this
critical issue.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF JACK S. FANOUS
Executive Director and Founder, G.I. Go Fund
November 10, 2009
Chairman Menendez, Senator Vitter, and Members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for this opportunity to testify on the difficulties our
Nation's homeless veteran's face and the steps our organization is
taking to answer the call to end all homelessness among veterans within
5 years.
I am the executive director and founder of The G.I. Go Fund, a
grassroots 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to assist
our Nation's heroes along the difficult path of transition.
The G.I. Go Fund was founded in 2006 following the death of one of
my closest childhood friends, Army Lt. Seth Devorin, from wounds he
suffered while attempting to dismantle an IED in Iraq. The organization
began as a small community group, which aimed to preserve the memory of
my friend through providing days of rest and relaxation to our Nation's
veterans. However, as we began to spend time with these men and women,
we began to understand that their problems and their fears had not
merely ended the minute they returned home and stepped on to American
soil. In fact, they had just begun.
Our veterans, who have just endured and survived the unimaginable,
are now expected to execute a smooth transition back to their civilian
lives. They are expected to reestablish relationships with family and
friends. They are expected to find either long-term, secure employment
based on their ``work'' experience in the military or are expected to
become a student utilizing the Post 9/11 GI Bill, all while being
expected to tend to the physical and mental wounds associated with
combat by fully utilizing their Veterans Administration benefits. It
has been my experience that a fragmented transition, which results from
one of these steps being missed or mishandled, leaves our veterans to
face a myriad of problems that can range from fractured family ties,
unemployment, depression, and many others. This is all in addition to
the veteran experiencing a physical or mental wound. These issues
fester and manifest into a chronically debilitating ailment. Fragmented
transitions often result in deep depressions and eventual substance
abuse by our veterans who feel they have nowhere left to turn.
Ultimately, a fragmented transition is the primary cause of
homelessness among our Nation's veterans, and we must formulate a two-
pronged approach that first works to avoid future homelessness among
new veterans, while simultaneously ending the current disaster.
This two-pronged approach was adopted by Mayor Cory A. Booker of
Newark, New Jersey, who has partnered with our organization to provide
the City with the first-ever nonprofit-run municipal office of
veteran's affairs in the country, which assists returning veterans with
their transition, while assisting the homeless veteran population to
find suitable transitional housing.
Preventing Homelessness Among Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans
When a soldier returns to the United States from Iraq or
Afghanistan, he or she is immediately inundated with the problems many
Americans face today, which include unemployment, an empty
refrigerator, shut-off notices, or an eviction or foreclosure notice.
While our organization has assisted thousands of American military
families with these problems as they arise by hosting job fairs to
address unemployment, providing direct financial assistance to help put
food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, it is just never
enough.
First, our Nation's lending institutions need to be more
understanding of the difficulties that our veterans face during their
transition back to civilian life, by providing ample time for our
veterans to secure a job to get their lives in order, and keep a roof
over their families' heads.
However, the root of these financial difficulties usually stem from
unemployment. Like any one of us here today, a veteran cannot pay for
groceries if they are unemployed. A veteran cannot pay for utilities if
they are unemployed. A veteran cannot pay a mortgage if they are
unemployed. However, unlike the rest of us sitting here today, these
men and women have been defending our Nation's freedom against the
threat of terrorism, causing them to miss years of their lives. Our
Nation's veterans deserve our patience, assistance, and understanding
that it will take some time to put their lives back together.
To prevent homelessness among today's returning soldier we need to
emphasize to employers the benefits of hiring a loyal, hardworking,
dedicated veteran. With the unemployment rate among veterans up to
three times higher than the national average, more and more of our
Nation's heroes are facing these financial disasters with little help.
We need to expand the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which oversees the hiring practices of
Federal contractors as it pertains to women, minorities, veterans, and
people with disabilities. While the OFCCP requires that statistics be
provided showing the number of women and minorities a Federal
contractor employs, no such requirements exist for their veteran
employees. The Federal Government must be able to track the hiring
practices of these Federal contractors as they pertain to veterans. If
and only if Federal contractors, as well as all of our Nation's
employers take affirmative action to hire our veterans now, will we be
able to end the flow of veterans onto the streets.
Concurrent to providing veterans every employment opportunity and
benefit, we must also find a more suitable, logical, and efficient
method to help our veterans navigate the remaining complex process of
transition. Our organization is in the process of creating a true ``One
Stop Center'' that will make a veterans transition smooth, efficient,
and effective. This center will provide office space to Government
agencies, nonprofits, and other organizations that play a vital role in
a veteran's transition. In one building a veteran will be able to find
The Department of Veterans Affairs, The Department of Social Security,
The Department of Labor, The USO, The Red Cross, and The Salvation
Army, to name a few. With a center such as this, these stakeholders can
come together and provide the most comprehensive approach to handling
each individual veterans needs, and ensure that not one step, not one
benefit, and not one piece of information is missed, ensuring that a
veterans transition is complete rather than fragmented. We must always
remember that homelessness is not an aberration, but rather it is
always a result of leaving major steps of transition fragmented and
unaddressed. We as a Nation must recognize that the magnitude of
information and services that are available to veterans is vast, but
the implementation is disjointed. We need to remedy the issue from the
root of the problem, and that problem is fragmentation.
Ending Homelessness Among Veterans in Five Years
On any given night in America, one third of all homeless people are
men and women who once proudly wore our Nation's uniform. They live in
boxes and under bridges. They are our forgotten heroes. To end this
national disaster, a vigorous series of partnerships between all
branches of Government and at all levels of Government must be forged
with community groups and faith-based organizations. All sectors of the
community must come together with the common goal of ending
homelessness among veterans.
However, these partnerships must result in veterans actually
getting off the street and into housing rather than the same outreach
techniques implemented in the past that do little more than to provide
one day off of the streets for these veterans. Just last month our
organization cosponsored our third Homeless Veterans Stand-Down in the
city of Newark, NJ, which provided for a hot meal, clothes, haircut,
physical checkups, to name a few. There were also various Government
agencies in attendance to provide veterans with information on
benefits. This is a day which on the surface appears like we did much
to serve the veteran population, and it is a day that oftentimes
garners us many accolades and thanks, but the truth, however, is that I
consider these days to be among my greatest failures as the Executive
Director of The G.I. Go Fund. When the event is over, I get into my car
and drive home, while these men and women are right back where they
started, on the streets. The event amounts to little more than one nice
day and a thank you for your service for a man or a woman who so
desperately needs more.
This more can only come in the form of more housing and more beds
to be made available for long-term transitional housing projects.
Housing projects much like the one my organization along with the city
of Newark, NJ, is pursuing, which will rehabilitate an historic 33,000-
square foot mansion that once belonged to the Frelinghuysen family of
New Jersey to create a 100-bed long-term transitional housing facility
for homeless veterans. This facility will provide for medical treatment
to homeless veterans, job counseling, and training for homeless
veterans, substance abuse counseling for homeless veterans, but most
importantly, it will provide a chance for these men and women to
finally, after many years in the cold, get off the streets and into a
home of their own.
It is unreasonable for us as a Nation to expect these homeless
veterans to rectify their situation without an address and a home they
can call their own. We must ask ourselves: where would perspective
employers mail correspondences to without an address? Where would
Government agencies that have benefits for these homeless veterans send
information and payments to without an address? Still, more
importantly, where will these homeless veterans, these brave men and
women who fought to defend our streets not live on them, sleep, shower,
and get dressed before their big interview without an address? The
answer is nowhere, and that is why we need more long-term, transitional
housing made available in every State in the country. In New Jersey, we
currently have an estimated homeless veteran population of between
7,000 and 9,000 on any given night, but we have less than 200 long-term
transitional beds available.
I am sure that we can all agree that this math does not add up, and
if more beds that provide proper training and counseling and long-term
shelter are not made available, it will be impossible to meet the
aggressive goal of ending homelessness among veterans within 5 years
that President Obama and VA Secretary Shinseki have vowed to do.
Conclusion
Again I would like to thank you Chairman Menendez, Senator Vitter,
and all the Members of the Committee for providing me the time to speak
about this important issue of ending homelessness among veterans within
5 years. While the task that lies before us is great, and the clock has
already begun ticking, I leave here today deeply encouraged by the
attention this Committee has shined on the issue. I am encouraged that
the Chairman of this Subcommittee, Chairman Menendez, has in his
congressional office a liaison that fights for veterans' issues in the
State of New Jersey with a passion that is unmatched. And I am most
encouraged that President Obama and Secretary Shinseki have made ending
homelessness among veterans a top priority of the new Administration. I
am encouraged but I am keenly aware of the enormity of the task at hand
and I am ready to dig in and manifest the direction provided by the
President and Congress. Thank You. I'll be glad to take your questions.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF LILA M. GUY
Iraq War Veteran
November 10, 2009
My name is Lila M. Guy and I am an Iraq War veteran. I served in
Kirkuk, Iraq, from September 2005 to September 2006. I was a soldier in
the 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, KY, and a SGT in CBRN
(Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear) Reconnaissance
Platoon. When we were not doing CBRN missions we did convoy security.
Before going on active duty I was in the Army Reserves for 8 years. For
three of those years I was an Army Reserve Unit Administrator (GS-07).
I am currently a full-time Nursing student at Widener University thanks
to the VA Vocational Rehabilitation Program.
Being in the Army meant the world to me because I was a soldier
serving my country. I loved my job, and the soldiers I served with. We
were like family. The down side was I had a real family that needed me.
I was married with three children. About a month after returning from
Iraq, my unit was informed that we would be redeploying to Iraq and had
to begin training for that deployment. Knowing the struggles of
deployment, my husband decided he was not going to go through it again
and he left. Being a single mother and trying to do field training was
hard and I could not do both. Especially with a child diagnosed with
epilepsy. When my husband called me and told me that either I get out
of the Army or he would divorce me and take my children, I had to make
a decision. I chose my children. When I left Fort Campbell, KY, I had
nothing and had no idea what I was going to do. My parents had a two-
bedroom house and I moved in with them. My three children and I lived
in a 10'x12' room. My husband and I tried to get back together and I
got pregnant. That was when things got worse for us. My husband decided
he didn't want any more children and I was not willing to have an
abortion. Things were already tight for us and my father told me that
there was no way we could stay there with the new baby. At that point I
had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and was
receiving disability from the VA. I was grateful for the help but it
just was not enough to raise four children. Faced with this dilemma, I
sent an e-mail to Congressman Joe Sestak asking for help. I had not
been able to find a job but was attending college. That next week I
received a phone call from a Social Worker named Stephen Bennett, at
the Philadelphia VA. They told me they may be able to help. At that
time the HUD-VASH program was new and they had not approved any housing
yet. I was happy to know there was help for me. Steve told me that he
was trying to do two jobs at once and to be patient and soon after came
Frank McGuire. Frank has been instrumental in helping me get a house.
During that time I watched as he struggled to try to get housing over
100 veterans. You would think that people would want to rent to a
veteran but that was not the case. The HUD-VASH program coordinators
were instrumental in speaking on my behalf to landlords in order to get
a place and after moving in helping me to communicate with my landlord
in getting things that need to be done in the house. I believe very
strongly in the HUD-VASH program because I don't know where I would be
without their help. There are many soldiers out there that don't think
anybody cares and don't know that there is help out there. I had a
focus and that was getting a place to stay for my children, so I didn't
give up. This program needs to be able to reach out to those veterans
and let them know that yes their service to the military is over but
that the Government still cares about their welfare. When soldiers are
no longer an asset they are thrown again and left to fend for
themselves in an unfamiliar world. Anybody who has spent time on active
duty and tried to integrate to civilian life will tell you, it is a
different world. The HUD-VASH Program helps veteran to navigate this
unfamiliar territory. I am not just speaking on the behalf of the HUD-
VASH program, I am speaking on behalf of all the veterans who are still
homeless and the ones coming home who will become homeless. They are my
focus and if I could be standing there guiding them to the help they
need I would. These veterans have served their country well and I
believe the least they can get for their service I help finding a place
to live. Thank You.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF WILLIAM WISE
Vietnam War Veteran
November 10, 2009
Thank you, Chairman Menendez, and Members of the Subcommittee for
giving me the opportunity to testify today and for your leadership in
addressing the critical issue of Veterans' Homelessness.
My name is William Wise. I am currently a participant in a
residential homeless Veterans' program sponsored by the New Jersey
Department of Military and Veterans Affairs called Veterans Haven. The
2-year program, has given me the opportunity to put my life back
together.
Let me provide you with some background into my situation.
I'm a 57-year-old man originally from Washington, DC. I'm a Veteran
of the Viet Nam War. I had been a productive member of the community--
holding a job and owning my own home.
But I made a number of bad choices due to addiction and mental
health issues. Over time I lost my job, lost my home, and ended up
residing in my sister's basement. For almost 3 years I remained
homeless.
In order to try to address my issues, I tried short-term 4-month
programs. These programs never provided me with enough time to deal
with the core issues that I needed to address. And without addressing
those core issues I continued to falter.
Finally I was referred to Veterans Haven.
Veterans Haven, a 2-year residential program, has allowed me the
time to deal with the core issues that caused me to become jobless and
homeless. There's an analogy I gave to the New Jersey Department of
Military and Veterans' Affairs Staff when I was first asked to talk
about my situation and possibly provide testimony today.
My situation was comparable to someone moving from room to room
blowing a fuse each time they entered a new room. The short term
solution had been to try to fix the fuse. But that was only a temporary
fix because the problem was actually the wiring.
I am currently nearing the end of my participation in the Veterans
Haven program. As I think you can tell, the program has made a
difference in my life. It is has been an opportunity to deal with
issues that have existed and escalated over a period of many years.
Programs like this should be available to more Veterans allowing them
the opportunity to get back on their feet and resume normal lives.
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR VITTER
FROM MERCEDES MARQUEZ
Q.1. Ms. Marquez, in your testimony you detail very thoroughly
both your dedication and the Administration's dedication to
ending homelessness among our veterans. This is an
extraordinarily laudable goal. One that I believe every member
of Congress can support. In your testimony you note that the
Housing Choice Voucher Program, the HOME Program, and the CDBG
Program and Homeless Assistance Grants all provide ``great
flexibility so that communities can use these Federal resources
to meet their local needs.'' Given that we are talking about
billions of dollars of taxpayer money what, if any, additional
flexibility do you all need in order to maximize your
resources? That is, are there rules and regulations that could
be streamlined in order to help you better carry out your
charge to end homelessness for veterans? I'm interested to hear
any suggestions you may have.
A.1. Answer not received by time of publication.
------
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR VITTER
FROM MELANIE LILLISTON
Q.1. In your response to Chairman Menendez you said that
everyone is going to have a success story that is unique to
themselves and cited providing organizations and communities
with the flexibility to provide services that are unique to
each veteran as essential to ending homelessness for veterans.
Please tell me specifically what more Congress can do to
provide that essential flexibility.
A.1. Answer not received by time of publication.