[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ALL HANDS ON DECK: ENDING
VETERAN HOMELESSNESS IN SAN DIEGO
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2023
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Serial No. 118-11
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via http://govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
52-491 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
MIKE BOST, Illinois, Chairman
AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, MARK TAKANO, California, Ranking
American Samoa, Vice-Chairwoman Member
JACK BERGMAN, Michigan JULIA BROWNLEY, California
NANCY MACE, South Carolina MIKE LEVIN, California
MATTHEW M. ROSENDALE, SR., Montana CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire
MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana
GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK,
C. SCOTT FRANKLIN, Florida Florida
DERRICK VAN ORDEN, Wisconsin CHRISTOPHER R. DELUZIO,
MORGAN LUTTRELL, Texas Pennsylvania
JUAN CISCOMANI, Arizona MORGAN MCGARVEY, Kentucky
ELIJAH CRANE, Arizona DELIA C. RAMIREZ, Illinois
KEITH SELF, Texas GREG LANDSMAN, Ohio
JENNIFER A. KIGGANS, Virginia NIKKI BUDZINSKI, Illinois
Jon Clark, Staff Director
Matt Reel, Democratic Staff Director
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
DERRICK VAN ORDEN, Wisconsin, Chairman
NANCY MACE, South Carolina MIKE LEVIN, California Ranking
C. SCOTT FRANKLIN, Florida Member
JUAN CISCOMANI, Arizona FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana
ELIJAH CRANE, Arizona MORGAN MCGARVEY, Kentucky
DELIA C. RAMIREZ, Illinois
Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public
hearing records of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs are also
published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the
official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare
both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process
of converting between various electronic formats may introduce
unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the
current publication process and should diminish as the process is
further refined.
C O N T E N T S
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THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2023
Page
OPENING STATEMENTS
The Honorable Derrick Van Orden, Chairman........................ 1
The Honorable Mike Levin, Ranking Member......................... 2
The Honorable Mark Takano, Ranking Member, Full Committee........ 5
The Honorable Young Kim, U.S. House of Representatives, (CA-40).. 7
WITNESSES
Panel 1
Mr. Frank P. Pearson, DPT, PA-C, Director, Jennifer Moreno VA San
Diego Healthcare System........................................ 8
Accompanied by:
Ms. Jill Albanese, Senior Advisor and Director of Clinical
Operations, Homeless Program Office
Ms. Leilani A. Hines, Housing and Neighborhood Services Director,
Oceanside Public Housing Authority............................. 10
Mr. David Estrella, Director of Housing and Community
Development, San Diego County Public Housing Authority......... 12
Mr. Matthew Wechter, Supervising Attorney, Public Defendant
Homeless Court Team, San Diego County.......................... 14
Panel 2
Mr. Greg Anglea, CEO, Interfaith Community Services.............. 30
Ms. Hanan Scrapper, Regional Director, PATH San Diego, People
Assisting the Homeless (PATH).................................. 32
Dr. Dustin Potash, Veterans Director, Adjoin..................... 34
Mr. Sean Spear, President and CEO, Community Housing Works....... 35
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements Of Witnesses
Mr. Frank Pearson Prepared Statement............................. 45
Ms. Leilani A. Hines Prepared Statement.......................... 51
Mr. David Estrella Prepared Statement............................ 60
Mr. Matthew Wechter Prepared Statement........................... 61
Mr. Greg Anglea Prepared Statement............................... 63
Ms. Hanan Scrapper Prepared Statement............................ 67
Dr. Dustin Potash Prepared Statement............................. 68
Mr. Sean Spear Prepared Statement................................ 71
Statement For The Record
San Diego Housing Commission..................................... 75
ALL HANDS ON DECK: ENDING
VETERAN HOMELESSNESS IN SAN DIEGO
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THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2023
U.S. House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity,
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:38 p.m.,
Little Theater, MiraCosta College, 1 Barnard Drive, Oceanside,
California, Hon. Derrick Van Orden, (chairman of the
subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Van Orden, Kim, Levin, and Takano.
OPENING STATEMENT OF DERRICK VAN ORDEN, CHAIRMAN
Mr. Van Orden. The subcommittee will come to order.
In accordance with Committee Rule 5(e), I ask unanimous
consent that Representative Kim from California be permitted to
participate in today's subcommittee hearing.
All right. So ordered.
Good afternoon. First, I want to thank all of you for
joining us today at this field hearing for the Subcommittee on
Economic Opportunity for Veterans on the House Veterans Affairs
Committee.
I want to thank the staff for setting everything up. We
have got all the sound people that flew out here from D.C. and
spending time away from your homes. I want to thank you for
doing that.
My name is Derrick Van Orden, and not only is it my
pleasure to serve as the Congressman for the 3rd congressional
District but also I have the honor to serve as the chairman of
this subcommittee.
This morning we are at the United States Navy SEAL Team
headquarters in Coronado, California, dealing with transition
issues to make sure that we do not have to have this
conversation much longer because part of making sure our
veterans do not wind up homeless is to make sure they can go
from being an active duty service member to being a productive
member of society.
My background with homelessness and homeless veterans is I
worked at First Presbyterian Church cooking at their soup
kitchen for several years, which is right in downtown San
Diego.
My roommate from Navy SEAL training was on the homeless
outreach task force working as a nurse and so I have a real
understanding of what is taking place in the veterans'
community and then also the homeless community writ large, and
so I am very thankful that this is Ranking Member Levin's
legislative priority.
Before we begin I want to say it is nice to be here in
Southern California. You see my face is a little red because I
pulled the rookie move yesterday again. The overcast, do not
worry about sunscreen. That happened.
This campus is absolutely beautiful. I talked to some of
the facilities ladies here earlier that got things set up. It
was very kind of them to show us around, and I appreciate so
much how the staffs have been working together, including Mr.
Vogt who was able to make it down to Coronado today to meet my
SEAL brothers. That was wonderful.
Then the people of the 49th District are lucky to have our
ranking member as your representative. He is just doing a great
job.
Today we are here to discuss any veterans' homelessness in
both the greater San Diego area and across the country. This
topic is one of the reasons I actually ran for Congress,
because I have a heart for this.
Permanent housing is an essential component to a stable
life. After a veteran transitions out of active duty and
without a home it is much harder to maintain a stable job,
continuing to acclimate to civilian life, and maintain mental
health.
This subcommittee in the past has done an amazing job
improving programs for veterans but we still have a lot of work
to do. Improving the Department of Housing and Urban
Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH)
voucher program, finding a new grant and per diem rate, retain
VA employees that serve homeless veterans, and getting the VA
to actually hire more employees with the funds Congress has
given them are all areas that we are going to continue to work
on.
However, it is important that both Congress and the
Department of Veterans Affairs administer and evaluate these
programs in a way that ensures veterans are housed in a way
that is fiscally responsible.
We have got to find ways to fund these essential programs
without putting a huge financial burden on the backs of the
taxpayers now and in the future. These can both exist in the
same universe.
We also need to ensure that these programs we have already
are paid for--that have been paid for by Congress are run as
intended and we have got to pass programs without ever doing--
excuse me, we must pass programs and continue to do the
oversight on them and this can never be at the expense of
veterans getting the services they need.
Hopefully, we are going to hear from the VA today and local
government and community providers about the impact of programs
the subcommittee has already enacted and find new ways to
improve the lives of America's veterans, and, simply put, we
just have a lot of work to do, and I am a retired enlisted guy
so I know how to work.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about how they
believe what works, what needs to be improved, and how Congress
can employ them to ensure that no veteran goes unhoused across
our country.
I now yield to the ranking member for his opening remarks.
Mr. Levin. Well, thank you so much, Chairman Van Orden.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MIKE LEVIN, RANKING MEMBER
I, first, want to welcome you and thank you for coming to
our beautiful congressional district. I am so glad that the sun
is shining. I was a little worried when it was raining this
morning.
Very, very grateful to work with you in a collaborative
manner and also very grateful to both Ranking Member Takano,
who did a wonderful job as our chairman for these past 4 years,
and my friend, Young Kim, from not too far away in Orange
County have also joined us.
As I mentioned outside, these opportunities to get together
on a bipartisan basis and learn about each other's districts
and priorities are rare in the Congress of the United States. I
hope that you know our commitment to doing that on the House
Veterans Affairs Committee.
Today's hearing is centered around the need for all hands
on deck, which in this case is in reference to the critical
work of our Marines at Camp Pendleton or sailors down in San
Diego.
Rather, we are here to discuss how we can employ all
available resources to end veteran homelessness in the San
Diego region. The rate of veteran homelessness in San Diego
County has dropped by nearly 30 percent over the last 4 years
and that is thanks to a lot of people in this room, and that is
according to `22--but according to the `22 point in time count
conducted in our communities nearly 700 veterans are still
experiencing homelessness, including 88 here in the city of
Oceanside.
In February of this year the Board of Supervisors for San
Diego County approved this all hands on deck approach to
reaching functional zero for veteran homelessness in our
region.
This approach will require the input, expertise, and hard
work of every person in this room and many others who are
unable to join us today to reach our shared goal of ensuring
that every veteran has a place to call home.
I want to thank all the dedicated organizations, the
practitioners, and the experts who are here with us today, some
of whom you are going to hear from who have been doing this
critical work for a very long time and will continue doing so
together.
There is not a single cure-all to veteran homelessness just
as there is not a single cause of veteran homelessness.
Homelessness occurs as the result of complex factors and
experiences that veterans face, some of which may be related to
their military service.
That is why we must take a multifaceted approach to address
the underlying specific needs of each individual veteran to
ultimately end homelessness.
I convened this hearing with my friend, Chairman Van Orden,
who is doing a great job with that gavel, with the thought in
mind to bring organizations across our homelessness prevention
and response system together to speak how their services
integrate to meet veterans where they are on their journey to
stable housing.
As difficult of a time as we faced during COVID-19 we
learned quite a bit about what is going to--what it is going to
take to end veteran homelessness and the three key elements of
that solution, urgency, resources and flexibility.
During the pandemic, Congress acted swiftly to give VA and
community providers the resources and the flexibility that they
needed to ensure the safety and health of unhoused veterans and
that focused effort, influx of funding, and increased authority
resulted in a reduction in veteran homelessness across the
country, including here in the San Diego region.
I am working with Ranking Member Takano on a policy roadmap
that will outline key areas where Congress can remove barriers
at both VA and HUD to ensure a veteran's path to a home is
smooth and quick.
A significant roadblock that I hope to discuss today
relates to the ongoing issue of veterans with service-connected
disabilities being rendered ineligible for permanent supportive
housing built specifically to serve their needs.
Often when a developer undertakes an affordable housing
project they accept financial incentives that come with
restrictions on the number of units that must be set aside for
individuals or families at certain income levels.
Generally, this is a great practice and ensures affordable
units are set aside for those most in need. However, when
calculating income for eligibility purposes a veteran's
disability compensation is included in that formula and often
puts them over the limit.
As a result, many veterans are deemed ineligible for
housing specifically built for them like permanent supportive
housing where care and resources are directly incorporated.
This problem is only going to get worse as more veterans
receive benefits under the Promising to Address Comprehensive
Toxics (PACT) Act.
I look forward to working closely with Ranking Member
Takano to address this real obstacle to ending veteran
homelessness and I am eager to hear today from our witnesses
about this and other roadblocks Congress may need to address to
ensure every veteran's housing security.
We have with us on our first panel representatives from
VA's San Diego Healthcare System--good to see you--a national
homeless program office to discuss the various programs VA
offers in the region to identify, treat, and house veterans
experiencing homelessness.
We also brought to the table two local housing authorities
from right here in Oceanside and from San Diego County. The
housing authorities play an integral role in the provision of
permanent housing through the HUD-VASH program, which is the
partnership between VA and the Department of Housing and Urban
Development that connects veterans with a housing choice
voucher and the supportive services that they need to thrive.
I will be interested to hear the latest updates on the
status of HUD-VASH in our community and how we can improve the
process to more seamlessly identify housing options and connect
veterans in need of permanent housing.
I am also pleased that Matthew Wechter is joining us today
from San Diego County's Homeless Court. We routinely hear and
research shows that a top unmet need of homeless veterans is
access to legal services.
This innovative program employs practices that assist
homeless individuals who have committed misdemeanors in
accessing the services they need with a focus on rehabilitation
and addressing the root causes of their housing insecurity. I
hope to see more of these efforts throughout the country as we
continue the fight to end veteran homelessness.
On our second panel we will hear from local homeless
service providers who execute veteran-centered programs across
the continuum.
We have Interfaith Community Services--I see Greg up
there--which operates emergency and transitional housing
through the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans program and the
grant and per diem program.
Their bridge and service-intensive housing in Oceanside
bring veterans indoors to connect them with treatment options
and wraparound services as they secure a permanent place to
call home.
We have People Assisting the Homeless, or Projects for
Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH), which I
would like to welcome back to our subcommittee. PATH testified
for us this past December in D.C. about their grant and per
diem program.
Today we will hear from them about Grant and Per Diem (GPD)
as well as the rest of their extensive service offerings for
veterans, including rapid rehousing through VA's Supportive
Services for Veterans Families program, job training and
placement through the Department of Labor's homeless veterans
reintegration program, and permanent supportive housing through
HUD-VASH.
We also have Adjoin, which partners with VA's Supportive
Services for Veterans Families (SSVF) program. Adjoin plays a
critical role in homelessness prevention and housing assistance
for very low income veterans and their families.
They participate in executing new strategic VA resources
like shallow subsidy, which is a vital tool to stabilize
veterans in their permanent housing.
Finally, we will have Community Housing Works, an
affordable housing developer. We know that a root cause of
homelessness throughout our country is due to a lack of
affordable housing. I will be interested to hear the barriers
that developers may face in constructing, operating, and
getting veterans placed in their units.
I am so excited to dive in the conversation today with our
witnesses. I thank the chairman again for visiting our district
in beautiful Oceanside.
With that, I yield back.
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you, Ranking Member Levin.
I now recognize the ranking member of the full committee,
Mr. Takano, for any remarks he may have.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MARK TAKANO, RANKING MEMBER, FULL
COMMITTEE
Mr. Takano. Well, thank you, Chairman Van Orden, and thank
you, Ranking Member Levin, for inviting me back to your
district today, and it is indeed a lovely day here.
It is great to be back in Oceanside again. Last July, I
participated in the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee's field
hearing on veteran food insecurity. I am proud of the
bipartisan nature of the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee and
your commitment to hosting field hearings in each other's
districts to hear directly from your constituents about what
issues veterans face.
I hope our committee will host many more field hearings
throughout this Congress. Ending veteran homelessness has long
been a key priority of mine.
I echo Ranking Member Levin's statement that there is no
single solution to ending veteran homelessness and that it
takes an integrated approach to alleviate housing insecurity.
I appreciate San Diego and Oceanside's commitment to
addressing the homelessness crisis with the urgency it
deserves. Barriers remain to ensuring every veteran has a place
to call home. I am hopeful that Congress can act to make tweaks
to existing law to remove unnecessary roadblocks.
Throughout this Congress I plan to work on a number of
pieces of legislation with my colleagues that touch nearly
every aspect of the homelessness services continuum, and ending
and preventing veteran homelessness will take a concerted
effort.
VA has made tremendous strides in pursuit of this goal and
the numbers--and the number of homeless veterans has reduced by
over 55 percent since 2010.
Last year VA housed over 40,000 veterans. Yet, still,
according to VA--according to HUD's point in time count,
roughly, 33,000 veterans were experiencing homelessness in
2022.
I am interested in learning more about innovative
approaches to homelessness prevention and how we may be able to
more adequately address inflow into the system through shallow
subsidies and rapid rehousing.
I also want to fully open up the front doors of VA by
ensuring veterans with other than honorable discharges can
access the health care for homeless veterans program.
I am looking forward to hearing from transitional housing
providers today about improvements we can make to grant and per
diem program--to the grant and per diem program to ensure
organizations have the resources and funding they need to serve
veterans on their journey to permanent housing.
Now, on the permanent housing end of the continuum
expanding veteran eligibility for HUD-VASH and modernizing that
program is a top priority of mine and I believe will lead to
significant reductions in the number of veterans experiencing
homelessness.
As Ranking Member Levin mentioned, we are working on a fix
to ensure that veterans with service-connected disabilities can
access the permanent supportive housing built to meet their
needs by adjusting how income is calculated for the purposes of
eligibility for that housing.
It seems backward that veterans with service-connected
disabilities could be denied housing. It is happening in
communities across the country and I am intent on removing this
barrier to ending veteran homelessness.
The affordable housing crisis is one of the chief causes of
homelessness and nowhere is that crisis more apparent than here
in California. I am pleased we will hear directly from
affordable housing developer today--from an affordable housing
developer today about how we can encourage the construction of
more housing units for veterans including through project-based
funding--project-based HUD-VASH vouchers.
I believe that by giving VA and providers flexibility and
fully funding the resources they need they can better address
the needs of homeless veterans in their care and communities
who are moving through their system and that is why I am going
to continue to fight for passage of H.R. 645, Congresswoman
Cherfilus-McCormick's Healthy Foundations for Homeless Veterans
Act, which extends VA's authority to pay for basic needs for
veterans experiencing homelessness.
I am deeply concerned about the effects that the May 11th
expiration of that authority and the elevated grant and per
diem reimbursement rate may have on VA providers and the
veterans who need our help the most.
There are a number of other issues within homeless programs
I hope to address this Congress and into the future, including
coordinated entry, data collection, and access to legal
services and program training, and I want to ensure that we are
encouraging the guiding principles of housing first across our
homeless response systems so that we are prioritizing permanent
housing placements for veterans and securing the treatment and
services they may need as well.
I hope to hear ideas for how we can make the journey from
at-risk or homeless to stably housed as smooth as possible for
our veterans from our San Diego and Oceanside providers.
I thank the chairman and the ranking member again for
letting me participate today in this field hearing, and I yield
back.
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you, Ranking Member Takano.
I would like to recognize my friend, Representative Kim,
and thank her for making the drive down to the district. If you
would like to make some opening comments.
OPENING STATEMENT OF YOUNG KIM
Ms. Kim. Thank you, Chairman Van Orden and Ranking Member
Levin, for holding this field hearing in Southern California on
veteran homelessness and allowing me to participate, too.
I represent California's 40th congressional District and
most of my district is primarily in Orange County but I do also
have parts of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
You know, I was looking up the statistics. California is
home to 1.8 million former service members and that is about a
little over 5 percent of the state's population and that is
also one-third most in the entire United States among all 50
states.
We have a lot of veterans here in the state as well as in
our respective districts so there is a lot of concentration
about making sure that we take care of our veterans and find
out what the needs are, which is one of the reasons why in my
own district I have formed a veteran advisory group where, you
know, I invite the veterans, those who work with the veterans--
organizations, associations --so that they can come and have a
regular conversation with me so I can find out what the needs
are, what resources we have at the Federal level that, you
know, we can dispense to the communities.
In my district, like I said, we have a number of
nonprofits, government, and law enforcement agencies and health
agency partners that are designed to increase collaboration on
finding, you know, a temporary shelter, connecting homeless
veterans to health care and addiction services, and enrolling
veterans into reintegration programs and help them find
stability and reenter the workforce.
We got a lot of work to do but that is one of the reasons
why I took the time to drive down here to listen from the
veterans, those of you who are working closely with the
veterans, to give us some ideas on how we can better our work
as Members of Congress to disseminate and help our veterans
better.
Thank you so much for, again, inviting me and I look
forward to hearing our witnesses talk to us. Thank you.
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you, Representative Kim.
I am going to ask the witnesses on the first panel to
please stand and raise your right hand. Can you do that back
there? Man, they got you in a tight spot. Raise your right
hand, please.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to
provide is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth?
[Witnesses are sworn.]
Mr. Van Orden. All right. Thank you. Let the record reflect
the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Please take
your seats.
Before we get started, I am a retired Navy SEAL. There is a
clock that says 5 minutes. That is when you are stopping. Okay.
I will hold myself to the same standard, just so you know. All
right.
Mr. Pearson, you are now recognized for 5 minutes to
deliver your testimony on behalf of the VA witnesses.
STATEMENT OF FRANK PEARSON
Mr. Pearson. Good afternoon, Chairman Van Orden, Ranking
Member Levin, Ranking Member Takano, and Congresswoman Kim.
My name is Dr. Frank Pearson. I am the director of the VA
San Diego Healthcare System and the Jennifer Moreno VA Medical
Center. I am accompanied today by Jill Albanese, senior advisor
and director of clinical operations in VA homeless program's
office.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the topic of
veteran homelessness, the work in this area by my staff at the
VA San Diego Healthcare System, and the challenges that we face
in our efforts to end homelessness among veterans in San Diego.
The VA San Diego Healthcare for Homeless Veterans program
collaborates with many community organizations to combat
veteran homelessness. It all starts with identifying at-risk
homeless veterans and then helping them with the continuum of
care and services.
The most common way to document veteran homelessness is
through the annual point in time counts. As stated, in 2022 to
the point in time count recorded almost 8,500 homeless
individuals in the San Diego region. That was a 10 percent
change since 2020.
Six hundred and eighty-six of these individuals, 8 percent,
self-identified as veterans. These statistics reflected a 27
percent reduction in the veteran homeless population since
2020, which was a welcome trend in the right direction.
While the success leads that have other large cities on the
West Coast, VA San Diego struggles to meet some of the national
VA goals for permanent housing placements. Our calendar year
2022 goal was 842 and we achieved permanent placement for 704
veterans. The written testimony submitted explains some of the
reasons why.
There are new 2023 goals and VA San Diego is implementing
and has implemented several initiatives aimed at increasing
permanent housing, decreasing recidivism, and engaging with
veterans facing homelessness.
In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic provided advantages
that enabled VA San Diego to assist homeless veterans. Namely,
the city of San Diego utilized the convention center to ensure
that all individuals and families struggling with homelessness
had access to shelter, basic necessities, and services.
This allowed VA San Diego to increase collaboration with
community partners to streamline services and focus engagement
efforts in one location. VA programs had over 200 admissions
into HUD-VASH and 135 veterans were transferred directly from
the convention center to housing in 2021.
Other factors that came about because of the pandemic
included special funding flexibilities provided through Section
4201 of the Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act
of 2020. That was greatly appreciated.
That law authorized the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
use appropriated funds for life-saving food, shelter, goods and
services for homeless veterans or those who participate in the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Veterans
Affairs Supportive Housing--HUD-VASH--during the pandemic. That
funding, as you know and as have been stated, is set to expire
soon and that is a bad thing, potentially.
In San Diego the VA uses those funds in many ways. In an
extremely competitive housing market 4201 funding approval
enabled an increase of the maximum grant per diem rate for
grant recipients.
Programs such as Ride Share enabled over 4,400 rides for
homeless veterans to get to our clinics for medical care.
Supportive Services for Veteran Families provided hotel
vouchers for veterans and their families awaiting permanent
housing.
Funding flexibilities also allowed VA San Diego to form new
partnerships with organizations like Brilliant Corners to
engage in community programs such as landlord engagement and
assistance and other San Diego County landlord-assisted
incentive programs and, similarly, Landlord Engagement and
Assistance Program (LEAP) in the city of San Diego.
By definition, the search for affordable housing is a key
part of our efforts to reduce veteran homelessness. There are
many programs in our continuum of care that address some of the
root causes of homelessness.
We use clinic and street-based outreach to engage veterans
and provide resources and referrals. VA transitional housing
programs offer both grant and per diem beds and contract
residential specialty beds.
The VA homeless patient-aligned care team offers walk-in
and scheduled appointments to more than 300 enrolled veterans.
The Veterans Justice Outreach Program provides resources,
referrals, and case management service for veterans who are
incarcerated, on probation or parole, or otherwise in need of
Homeless Court advocacy, and VA San Diego employment readiness
staff members assist homeless veterans overcoming housing
instability as they seek employment.
VA San Diego Healthcare System is committed to ensuring
veterans have access to the housing resources and services they
require and deserve. We are working to improve access to
programs designed to meet veterans' needs.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before
you here today. We truly appreciate the many resources that
Congress has provided the VA so we can care for our Nation's
veterans. Now we are happy to respond to any questions that you
may have.
[The Prepared Statement Of Frank Pearson Appears In The
Appendix]
Mr. Van Orden. You made it.
Just so you know, Mr. Pearson, I read all of your testimony
already. Thank you very much for that and the written statement
of Mr. Pearson will be entered into the hearing record.
Ms. Hines, you are now recognized for 5 minutes to deliver
your testimony.
STATEMENT OF LEILANI A. HINES
Ms. Hines. Good afternoon, Chairman Van Orden, Ranking
Member Levin, members of the committee, and the public in
attendance here today and virtually.
My name is Leilani Hines. I am the director of housing--of
the housing department and housing authority for the city of
Oceanside.
Oceanside in particular has long been defined by its
neighbor, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, with over 42,000
active duty personnel, 73 percent of which live off base, and
more than 77,000 retired personnel residing in the San Diego
region.
Many of these active, retired, and discharged service
members and their families make Oceanside their home, and since
2015 this region has worked toward functional zero for the
homeless population in veterans and we have seen an overall
decrease, as has been stated.
That is not necessarily the case here in Oceanside. We have
experienced a significant increase in our point in time from
five persons in 2020 to 88 in the last count.
Oceanside is in collaboration and works to support
leadership efforts of our continuum of care committed to the
national built for zero initiatives the board of supervisors
that have adopted a county framework for ending homelessness,
creating that unified strategic approach to support coordinated
services and funding.
As part of this effort and the growth of homelessness in
contradiction to the region in Oceanside what we bring to the
table are our HUD-VASH vouchers, a hundred vouchers. As you
often hear the media and cause for concern for many in our
community it is the lack of affordable housing and a
competitive rental housing market that is a big contributing
factor for the use of housing choice vouchers.
To address this and to meet the challenge the city does use
the 120 percent of our fair market rent for its VASH program.
We utilize zip code level small area Fair Market Rents (FMRs)
that better reflect rents within our individual neighborhoods
to meet those high costs and the changing market in Oceanside.
The temporary change in the FMR methodology employed for
2023 incorporates private market rental data that will help us
to close that gap in high housing cost markets like Oceanside
where we see a median rent of $3,400 a month, a hundred-dollar-
a-month increases in rents from March to April 2023 and an $800
increase from the same time last year.
Consumer choice for our veterans' self-determination
housing stability are dependent upon the availability of
housing and its affordability, and so where opportunities arise
the city does work with our private market developers to
stimulate development, expand our available housing stock,
particularly through project-based vouchers, and Oceanside has
committed to full utilization of 20 percent of the program cap
for Projected Based Vouchers (PBVs), the additional 10 percent
for permanent supportive housing to just support housing
affordability.
In recent years you have seen all three of our housing
authorities dedicate PBVs to a number of permanent supportive
housing developments and as a local municipality our impact on
the market is truly limited and to services.
We can, however, take proactive measures to outreach, make
known the availability of resources to the community to connect
potential VASH-eligible veterans with our local San Diego
Veteran Affairs Medical Center.
We can help to educate and engage landlords and property
owners of participation in the voucher program, the benefits,
the availability of incentives we have, and the services that
can be available through VASH or even the Emergency Housing
Vouchers (EHV) program.
While we as a local jurisdiction we have all committed to
doing what we can there is more to be done for veterans
experiencing homelessness.
As the county has alluded to in their written testimony,
VASH vouchers left on the table are left on the table and
available. We have utilized only about 50 percent--nearly 50
percent over the last few years of our VASH vouchers. That is
lost opportunity.
Our use of VASH vouchers is truly relying upon direct
referrals of the VA and their case management services and that
is what impacts the greatest higher utilization of our
services.
Our referrals have been slow and trickling in and we
continue to examine ways in which we can partner to strengthen
those relationships and increase our referral rate.
In the future what we would ask for you to do as we work
together as municipalities, our Continuum of Care (COC) and
Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH), we hope to identify
referrals. We hope that the--we increase program caps for PBVs
as a useful financing mechanism.
As Ranking Member Levin has championed, we urge legislators
to think about the methodology of the FMR and to go beyond 2023
and to incorporate that data. Last----
[The Prepared Statement Of Leilani Hines Appears In The
Appendix]
Mr. Van Orden. The gentlelady's time has expired.
Ms. Hines. Thank you.
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you very much.
Ms. Hines, I read all your testimony, too, in case you
wondered.
Ms. Hines. Thank you.
Mr. Van Orden. Yes. I owe that to you. The written
statement of Ms. Hines will be entered into the hearing record.
Mr. Estrella, you are now recognized for 5 minutes to
deliver your testimony.
STATEMENT OF DAVID ESTRELLA
Mr. Estrella. Good afternoon, Chairman Van Orden, Ranking
Member Levin, and members of the committee. Welcome to the
county of San Diego and my hometown, Oceanside, California.
My name is David Estrella and I am the director of County
of San Diego's Health and Human Services Agency Housing and
Community Development Services. As such, I also represent the
housing authority of the County of San Diego.
San Diego County is a proud military community. San Diego
has the largest concentration of military and veteran presence
in the world with approximately 120,000 active duty personnel
and 230,000 veteran residents.
The majority of our active duty service members are split,
roughly, between the Navy and Marine Corps serving among our
eight military bases in the county.
According to the Regional Taskforce on Homelessness, there
are nearly 1,000 veterans currently experiencing homelessness
in our region. Over the last several years the San Diego County
Board of Supervisors has demonstrated its commitment to
addressing the needs of all people experiencing and at risk of
homelessness.
The board adopted the county's Framework for Ending
Homelessness in 2021, which created a unified strategic
approach to support the coordination of homeless services and
funding.
On February 7th, 2023, the board formally prioritized
ending veteran homelessness in the region. The county of San
Diego will join community partners and other local
municipalities in developing and implementing a regional
strategic action plan to achieve functional zero for veterans'
homelessness within a 15-month period and maximize available
resources to meet our veterans' housing needs across the
region.
The introduction of the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing
VASH program in 2008 has been a key contribution to an over 55
percent reduction in veterans experiencing homelessness
nationwide since 2010.
According to San Diego's regional 2022 point in time count,
while the number of persons experiencing homelessness saw an
overall increase veterans homelessness in the region decreased
by over 350 veterans since the 2020 report.
The county of San Diego has engaged in working with the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other partners to
address the challenges in the region. Some recent highlights of
the county's effort include enhancing county outreach,
educating and engaging landlords, and enhancing the county's
landlord incentive program to reduce the amount of time between
voucher issuance and lease up in a very competitive rental
market, connecting veterans with units by providing vacancy
leads through our landlord liaison and streamlining the
administrative process to increase efficiencies and reduce
barriers.
While remarkable progress has been made there is more to be
done to help veterans experiencing homelessness. According to
the February 2023 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development Dashboard there are 2,334 VASH vouchers allocated
to three housing authorities in the San Diego region.
While the housing authority of the county of San Diego, the
San Diego Housing Commission, and the Oceanside Housing
Authority have over 1,670 veteran families leased in units and
receiving VASH assistance, over 650 VASH vouchers remained not
utilized.
In order to get our veterans off the street and into
housing an additional outreach and referrals from the local VA
are needed throughout the region. In 2022 the county received
an average of less than 11 referrals per month.
Recognizing the need to increase outreach and referrals in
the housing authority's jurisdiction, the San Diego Veterans
Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) has recently secured a contractor
to assist the VA with outreach and referrals.
So far in 2023 the county has received an average of 15
referrals per month. While we anticipate seeing the referral
numbers continue to grow in 2023, the current pace is not
nearly enough to fully utilize the vouchers within the next 12
months and still leaves too many veterans far too long without
a place to call home.
While the county has been successful in applying to HUD and
bringing additional vouchers to the region in the past, the
inadequate referral rate has made the county housing authority
ineligible to apply for additional VASH vouchers based on
utilization rate thresholds.
Not being able to apply for additional vouchers is a missed
opportunity. We can enhance the San Diego VAMC's capacity to
identify and refer homeless veterans by expanding the local
VA's current third party referral contract.
Additional strategies that would help streamline access to
VASH vouchers for eligible veterans include expanding program
wide VASH waivers to align with flexibilities already allowed
under the emergency housing voucher program and stability
voucher programs, increasing the amount of VASH project-based
vouchers, or PBVs, that the local VA will support per proposed
housing development.
Currently, there is a limit of either 10 VASH PBVs per
development or 10 percent of the development's units, whichever
is greater. This minimum should be increased.
Thank you for your time and I am happy to answer any
questions that you may have.
[The Prepared Statement Of David Estrella Appears In The
Appendix]
Mr. Van Orden. Good job. You made it.
Mr. Estrella, thank you very much. Oh, excuse me. Yes,
thank you very much, and your written statement, which I did
read, will be entered into the record.
Mr.--is it Wexter?
Mr. Wechter. Wechter.
Mr. Van Orden. Wechter. You are now recognized for 5
minutes to deliver your testimony.
STATEMENT OF MATTHEW WECHTER
Mr. Wechter. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Van Orden,
Ranking Member Levin, Ranking Member Takano, and Representative
Kim.
My name is Matthew Wechter. I am the deputy public defender
supervising the Pretrial Advocacy and Community Connections
unit of the Public Defender's Office. On behalf of the county
of San Diego, department of the Public Defender, our chief
deputies, and the members of our office, thank you for inviting
me to testify on this issue.
Since my first years as an attorney in this office, now
over 13 years ago, it has been clear to me the strong
commitment that the San Diego Public Defender and our
collaborative justice partners and the greater county of San
Diego community has to serving our homeless veteran population.
We can do better in two ways. The first is best addressed
by my panel colleagues today, increasing the housing and other
nonlegal resources available that they need, and the second is
to eliminate the legal barriers to being able to utilize and
meaningfully receive those resources and that is what I will
focus my comments on today.
In my written materials I discussed how important the Stand
Down event has been and continues to be for our county and our
community members and beyond. The way I have always heard Stand
Down described is you take a step, we take a step. You walk in
and ask for help and we will walk with you.
Homeless courts started its stand down 34 years ago as a
collaborative justice effort between the public defender,
district and city attorneys, and the Superior Court, and
continues to be one of the biggest if not the biggest service
provider at the event. In fact, most years at San Diego High
School's field the veterans are lined up early just for legal
help.
The public defender is there in force--I call it the public
defender army--with over 50 volunteers over those 2 days there
to meet the incoming veterans looking for help.
In return for coming to the event, engaging with services,
and working on themselves the public defender and the court
partners can now research their cases, look for outstanding
warrants, locate Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) holds, pull
those cases and remove those barriers on the spot.
Never let a pandemic go to waste. We now have that
technology to do this in real time with a click of a button.
The criminal case, fine, and relief is just the start of
what legal help is available at Stand Down. DMV Legal Aid, San
Diego Volunteer Lawyer, Child Support Services, League of Women
Voters, county assessor recorder helping with birth
certificates--it is a one-stop shop for a veteran looking for a
way out of that cycle. They take a step, we take a step.
That is only 3 days a year, 3 days twice a year in San
Diego. What about the rest of that time? Our monthly formal
Homeless Court Program operates 12 months a year with the VA,
PATH, Interfaith, Adjoin, and over 90 other approved Homeless
Court providers in this community, able to refer their clients
and participants to clear these legal barriers once they have
met those program requirements.
San Diego was not satisfied there either. In 2021, on the
heels of the pandemic, that same collaborative spirit among our
county and community partners also begun using the model of
Homeless Court at Stand Down to institute Homeless Court pop-up
resource fairs throughout the community to remove immediate
barriers and we hope to expand those to twice per month in the
near future.
The Homeless Court pop-up model of hyperlocal meet them
where they are action is gaining traction through the American
Bar Association's Commission on Homelessness and Poverty as
well.
In fact, I just returned from Charleston, South Carolina,
supporting their first Homeless Court pop-up resource fair last
Friday, and there are already discussions to plan their next
one.
If you sense a theme to my opening comments today it is
meeting the unhoused person where they are to lift that
barrier. For the veteran they came out for us when we needed it
and now we will come out for them and address their needs.
Sometimes that first step is the hardest, and the public
defender and the other community collaborative partners will be
ready to take those steps with them.
While this is a field hearing in San Diego, veteran
homelessness is not unique here. I extend the invitation to any
and all the members of this subcommittee to join us at any of
our Homeless Court pop-up events, our monthly Homeless Court
Program graduation, or our Stand Down event this July to see it
in action.
If you are interested in this type of event in your
community through the American Bar Association on Homelessness
and Poverty I would be happy to make that connection with your
community as well.
Thank you, and I would be happy to answer any questions
that committee has.
[The Prepared Statement Of Matthew Wechter Appears In The
Appendix]
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you, Mr. Wechter.
The written statement of Mr. Wechter will be entered into
the hearing.
We will now proceed to questioning. I ask members and
witnesses to respect the 5-minute rule--I think we have covered
that--and I now recognize myself for 5 minutes.
Ms. Hines, you said it is 30--and I read it but I did not
see what type of apartment costs $3,400. Like, how big is that?
Ms. Hines. That would be a two-or three-bedroom unit. Our
two-bedroom units go anywhere from $2,400, $2,800 and then
three-bedroom units upwards of $3,000 to $4,000.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay.
Ms. Hines. If you have been to the Oceanside community we
have----
Mr. Van Orden. Oh, yes.
Ms. Hines [continuing]. we have had a renaissance, if you
will, and a lot of new physical developments coming online.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. That would be for a family then?
Ms. Hines. Yes, it would be.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. Thank you, ma'am.
Mr. Wechter, what qualifies a veteran as homeless and
allows them access to your services?
Mr. Wechter. The good part about the way that our community
has done it is homeless or at risk of homelessness, which
really opens it up and makes it so that we have as much
eligibility as possible.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay.
Mr. Wechter. When a person comes there might be suitability
issues but eligibility is as broad as possible.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. Excellent. Thank you.
Dr. Pearson, as you know, Southern California is an area
with a significant defense presence--we have discussed that--
and members of the armed forces in the community make the
transition of the military to civilian life every day. About
750 members of the Naval Special Warfare community do this
annually.
Can you please discuss how the local VA Medical Center
collaborates with the nearby naval and Marine bases to ensure
that service members who may not have a housing plan as they
exit the military are connected with the resources they need?
Then the second question is does the Department of Defense
provide warm handovers directly to the local VA for service
members who do not have a housing plan?
Mr. Pearson. Okay. Thank you for that question.
The military offers the Transitional Assistance Program for
military members that are exiting the Navy or any military
service. I am a 37-year veteran myself and having been a
commanding officer I am very familiar with this.
You know, the military actually has a very good program for
people that are going to be medically disabled and there is a
very significant handoff as we have had in this community with
Wounded Warriors and everything.
We have a very strong connection between Camp Pendleton and
Navy Medical Center of San Diego for those veterans or soon to
become veterans.
There is a really good handoff process there. When military
members are exiting the military they go through TAPS. They get
representatives from the VA who come to share----
Mr. Van Orden. Dr. Pearson, I do not want to cut you off
but I have limited time. I was just doing the stuff for this. I
want to make sure that the Department of Defense (DOD) is not--
like, they are not chilling you out and it sounds like they are
not so far, from your perspective. I am going to follow up
--have my staff follow up with you if that is all right.
Ms. Albanese--is that correct?
Ms. Albanese. Yes.
Mr. Van Orden. Yes. Okay. Can you discuss the disparity in
the treatment of veterans' Federal service disability payments
between the most Federal agencies and HUD and how this affects
veterans' ability to get affordable housing?
Ms. Albanese. Yes. Thank you for the question.
What I can tell you is of the veterans that are currently
enrolled in all of our homeless programs nationally about 20
percent of those veterans would be over income for these
projects that Mr. Levin described.
It is a significant number of veterans who would not be
eligible for those project-based because they are over income
even though they have a service-connected disability.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. Yes, that is unacceptable. We are
going to work on that.
Yours is kind of a general question but, Doctor, I am going
to start with you. I want to know what actually goes into
trying to deconstruct this problem because I read all this
stuff again and I see a lot of--I do not see a lot of upstream
solutions.
With that transition program in Naval Special Warfare they
start 24 months out making sure that these service members--
they start off in a productive way. Can you tell me a little
bit about the upstream solutions that you are working with that
could potentially help this?
You have a active duty service man or woman who is
performing incredible functions and then they wind up in a bush
on a corner. You know, that just did not happen.
I really want--and I know Ranking Member Levin is all over
this--I want to try to deconstruct that problem so we can
prevent getting here. The reason being is I am not sure that
the at-risk--I think that is too late at that point. Can you
address that?
Mr. Pearson. Sure. The VA has a Move to VA program and so
that is one program that is helping to facilitate resources for
military members who are transitioning. We also have veteran
resource centers and we actually just opened up a brand new one
at the VA hospital here recently.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. With that, I yield back.
I now recognize Ranking Member Levin for 5 minutes to
question the witnesses.
Mr. Levin. Thanks again, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to
everybody on the panel for being here today and for all your
excellent work in the community.
I wanted to start by discussing barriers to affordable
housing for veterans and one of the most important tools that
we have got to improve access is the ability to project base
HUD-VASH vouchers. We have been talking about that a bit.
Project-basing vouchers effectively sets aside units in a
building or development so that there is a dedicated housing
stock for veterans.
My understanding is that there has been a slow uptake in
project basing in the San Diego region despite the difficult
reality that many veterans face when competing in the rental
market, as we have been discussing, with a tenant-based
voucher.
I would like San Diego and Oceanside public housing
authorities as well as VA to please discuss the barriers to
project-basing HUD-VASH vouchers in our community and any
solutions you are working on to ensure that there are units
available for veterans, and let us begin with Mr. Estrella.
Mr. Estrella. Thank you for your question, Ranking Member.
The discussion of project-based vouchers starts as a
financing discussion and it is a form of subsidizing permanent
affordable housing.
Typically VASH project-based vouchers are included amongst
a package of other either housing choice project-based vouchers
and other types of financing, State tax credits, or State
financing for veterans housing, et cetera.
Typically what you see is a voucher that is a set aside for
veterans within a larger affordable housing development, so
glass half full.
Part of the question is that it is a portion of financing
so it does not carry the full burden of affordable housing
development. It is part of a broader challenge, which is
financing affordable housing development generally.
The more project-based vouchers that are made available
that are VASH vouchers that increases the probability that the
project will be--the affordable housing development will be
financially solvable over long term. It will be operational, et
cetera.
In summary, affordable housing finance is very difficult,
particularly in the San Diego region and California region.
VASH vouchers as project-based vouchers are a tool that can be
used. Expanding that tool allows us more freedom to build more
housing.
Mr. Levin. Ms. Hines, I will ask you the same question.
Ms. Hines. I think my answer would be very similar to
David's response, but project-based vouching is absolutely
necessary when you do financing for the extremely low or very
low.
When we look at a development you can have upwards of six
different funding sources coming in. We recently approved
Greenbrier Village, which is a 59-unit permanent supportive
housing all VASH--all project-based vouchers with five VASH
vouchers. The equivalent value of those project-based vouchers
was about $21 million.
You cannot do permanent housing without project-based
vouchering, and so the more that we have the ability to use
project-based vouchers the more housing stock we think that we
will be able to get at those extremely low or very low income
levels.
Mr. Levin. Why do not we do more of it? You just think it
is a financing matter as Mr. Estrella referred to?
Ms. Hines. At times it is a choice. We can do--we in
Oceanside have committed to using the full maximum. We are
obligated under the legislation to only use a maximum of the 20
percent of our vouchers.
Increasing that maximum will help us to do more affordable
housing and then it becomes a choice of a developer or a
partner and, in the case of the VASH vouchers, the VA as to how
many of those they will use for a targeted population group.
Mr. Levin. Dr. Pearson, I will turn to you for my last
minute in the hope that we will have another round because I
got a bunch more questions if you are willing.
Dr. Pearson.
Mr. Pearson. Absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity.
I will make it very quick. We have 76 project-based
vouchers for the city, 13 for the county, and none for
Oceanside. I would say there is opportunity there.
Mr. Levin. Zero for Oceanside?
Mr. Pearson. Right.
Mr. Levin. Wow.
Mr. Pearson. Project-based housing, yes.
Mr. Levin. You do not think that there is--so do you agree
with the general premise that it is the financing that is the
challenge?
Mr. Pearson. You know, that is at a different level than
what I get involved with but I certainly think there is--cost
has something to do with everything these days. Absolutely, you
cannot dismiss that.
Mr. Levin. Okay. Do you have any insight on why Oceanside
has not had any of these projects?
Mr. Pearson. No, sir, I do not.
Mr. Levin. Okay. Ms. Hines, do you have any insight on
this?
Ms. Hines. We just started to get into the game of project-
based vouchering, and so as I discussed the Greenbrier Village
project was just awarded funding this year.
Mr. Levin. Out of time. Sorry. Okay.
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you very much, and at the request of
Ranking Member Levin we will do a second round of questioning.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Chair.
Mr. Van Orden. We will get to--of course, no.
I now recognize Ranking Member Takano for 5 minutes to
question the witnesses.
Mr. Takano. Thank you, Chairman Van Orden.
I want to follow up on the chairman's questioning on
veteran eligibility compensation.
Mr. Pearson, how often does this issue of veteran
disability compensation putting veterans over the income
eligibility requirements for a unit in a permanent supportive
housing complex--how often does it present itself in the San
Diego area?
Mr. Pearson. Surprisingly, it is not significant in San
Diego because there is plenty of housing to be able to--as far
as when we are talking per diem and we are talking about Area
Median Income (AMI) rates, the rates that are currently
available meet the number that were allocated.
There is sufficient allotment for what we are available to
do. Does that mean that project-based housing would not
appreciate an increase? No, because that would probably make
ineligibility for more housing available there.
Mr. Takano. You are not saying you do not encounter this
that often?
Mr. Pearson. That is right.
Mr. Takano. Does it--but does it happen sometimes there?
Mr. Pearson. Sure. Yes, and I am very familiar.
Mr. Takano. What happens when it does happen to veterans
who are turned away from accessing a unit in permanent
supportive housing because of their permanent--for their
disability compensation? What do you do in that case?
Mr. Pearson. Sure. I would like Ms. Albanese to help me
with that.
Mr. Takano. Sure.
Ms. Albanese. Sure. I can tell you one of the consequences
is that when a veteran does not qualify for these project-based
then they are--they are able to use a tenant-based voucher
because San Diego has made those vouchers available so folks
can get vouchers if they are up to 80 percent area median
income, which certainly does help and it sounds like Oceanside
is even 120 percent of FMR. That is hugely helpful.
When you are a veteran and you are in--you have a voucher,
you are competing with everybody else in the rental market,
right. Using a voucher you are already at a little bit of a
disadvantage.
That means that you have to go through an inspection. You
have to figure out how you are going to get the deposit. It is
a very competitive market and so, again, I would say that that
can put a veteran at a disadvantage if they cannot take
advantage of the project-based units.
Mr. Takano. Well, thank you for that.
Let me go to Mr. Estrella. One critical step Congress took
during the COVID-19 pandemic was to authorize emergency housing
vouchers, or EHVs, through the American Rescue Plan. EHVs were
created to help pay rent for individuals or families at risk of
or experiencing homelessness.
The new program came with higher rent caps, extra money for
landlord incentives, and laxer documentation requirements than
housing choice vouchers.
The San Diego public area housing authorities were
extremely successful on using their EHVs unlike many other
communities in California and across the country. I have been
working on legislation that would expand administrative funding
for the HUD-VASH program to mimic the EHV program.
Can you please discuss--I see some nodding heads over
there. Can you please discuss why San Diego was successful in
utilizing its emergency housing voucher allotment? If you
cannot I will turn to them. So----
Mr. Estrella. Thank you for your question.
I think it is a reflection of the collaborative efforts
across the region, including the Regional Taskforce on
Homelessness, all of the housing authorities working together.
Those vouchers were issued during a very difficult time and
I think the--just the collaboration that came through quick
referrals, quick processing, and the administrative
efficiencies that came with the program that would very much
benefit--you know, is very much modeled and similar to VASH.
I think those kind of administrative efficiencies help us
to get the vouchers out in a quick fashion. I think that is the
best way to respond.
Mr. Takano. Do you have anything to add, very quickly,
either one of you?
Mr. Pearson. I do. In addition to that, again, it is all
about the dollar. You were--they gave efficiencies of being
able to provide deposit money immediately whereas HUD-VASH does
not do that.
Mr. Takano. Are there any other lessons from the EHV
program that we could apply to other subsidies like HUD-VASH
that you would add besides that or was that the key one?
Mr. Pearson. That is the key one, sir.
Mr. Takano. Okay. Ms. Albanese?
Ms. Albanese.
Ms. Albanese. I would just say that we absolutely would
support having those same benefits that were included with the
emergency housing vouchers included with HUD-VASH. It would be
a game changer for us, sir, so we absolutely appreciate that
consideration.
Mr. Takano. Well, it seems like the previous issue I
raised, which is an issue in other parts, which is the
eligibility cliff. Seems like that is not such a problem. You
are all--you are all, like--you are all showing a lot of
enthusiasm around this particular reform that I just mentioned.
Ms. Albanese. I would say that it is a bigger problem in
other communities than it is in San Diego. Not every housing
authority chooses to raise their eligibility limit to 80 or 120
percent of fair market rent. So while----
Mr. Takano. I am going to have to--I am going to have to--
--
Ms. Albanese. Okay. Thanks.
Mr. Takano [continuing]. cut us off here. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Van Orden. We will have a second round if you want to
follow up. I now recognize Representative Kim for 5 minutes.
Ms. Kim. Thank you, Chairman.
As all of our witnesses know, the veteran homelessness is a
problem that can be prevented if veterans are connected with
our local, state, and federal resources before they become
homeless, right. We can think about the mental problems. The
emotional health and substance abuse are often the factors
contributing to veteran homelessness.
I want to ask all witnesses, and this is open to all of
you, what are some of the examples at any level like state,
federal, and local levels that have worked well at preventing
our veterans from becoming homeless?
Anyone can go first.
Ms. Albanese. I can say that one of the--one of the
programs that we see that has worked very well has been the
Supportive Services for Veteran Family programs. It does
provide prevention services. One of the things that we are
looking at utilizing SSVF for is to use our shallow subsidy
intervention a little bit further upstream.
Some folks are at risk of homelessness just because they do
not have enough income to pay their rent. For those folks a
shallow subsidy makes sense, and just to explain, the shallow
subsidy pays up to 50 percent of someone's rent.
We do feel like we can use that intervention, encourage our
grantees to use it further upstream. It will reach a broader
population. That is one of the things that we are looking at.
Ms. Kim. Does anyone want to----
Mr. Estrella. Thank you, Congresswoman.
I guess what I would add on top of that is an
understanding, one, that this discussion is a discussion of
poverty when we are talking about homelessness, generally. I
think you were referencing that.
Two, any response that we provide should be
multidisciplinary in nature. Our housing authorities are part
of Health and Human Services Agency, which means we leverage
all the services that are available through self-sufficiency
and behavioral health services and everything that is offered
through Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA).
Then understanding that it is a regional effort across
multiple jurisdictions including--you know, in our case it
would be the Regional Taskforce on Homeless and all the
wonderful providers that are part of our RTFH.
It is very much a comprehensive approach. Less silos and
more cooperation generally yields better results with the
resources braided along with that and understanding that health
also plays a part in that.
Thank you.
Ms. Kim. Thank you so much.
You know, we know that a major issue with veterans getting
the benefits and resources that they are entitled to is that we
do not know who they are and we do not know where they are.
That is probably the major issue, right.
In California, as you probably already know, we have added
the voter identification--veteran identification to driver's
licenses. We can now allow the local veteran service officers--
VSOs--to have a more accurate method of educating our veterans
on resources that are available to them.
Outside of this what are the best practice that you can
share with us when trying to connect veterans to local
resources and, you know, the resources that have been proven
effective?
Mr. Pearson. I would offer that, you know, if a veteran is
connected to the Veterans Administration, we, through our
medical system, primarily through our caseworkers, our social
workers, we are going to identify those issues and we are going
to connect them.
We are going to provide every intensive resource that is
available to be able to connect them. The important point is,
as you stated, is identifying them. It is difficult unless they
are connected to us.
I think there are also opportunities to identify those
people that are transitioning from the military and then once
they connect with the VA we have got a great opportunity.
Ms. Kim. Is there any other methods that you can share?
Mr. Wechter. Thank you, Congresswoman.
I would say it is meeting them where they are with these
types of resource fairs because they are not just homeless,
right. It is homeless or at risk of homeless or really anybody
that walks up.
When we have the representatives from the VA, our Veterans
Justice Outreach (VJO) team in San Diego, which is amazing,
they are there to actually discuss what benefits they might
have. They might not know. Having the access in the community
where they are is, I think, a crucial step.
Ms. Kim. We will definitely want to work with you. I have
my veteran resources staff that works on this. We have
veterans' resource fairs coming up. You mentioned the pop-up
events for the homeless veterans. Will love to team up with you
and then get the information out and collect their information
as well. Hopefully----
Mr. Wechter. Orange County just actually wanted to switch
to that model, too. Thank you.
Ms. Kim. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman.
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you, ma'am.
We will now proceed to our second round of questions. With
that, I recognize myself for 5 minutes.
Dr. Pearson, to ensure every veteran has a permanent home
we also have to work toward employing every veteran that wants
to work and currently the VA San Diego has two employment
specialists to provide services to 173 veterans.
Do you think this is an optimal number or should they have
more employees helping veterans?
Mr. Pearson. We are actually in the process of hiring
additional employment specialists at this time. We will have
three.
Mr. Van Orden. You will have three?
Mr. Pearson. Yes, sir.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. What is the linkage between your folks
there with the State and Federal Department of Labor folks?
Mr. Pearson. That is a great question and, Ms. Albanese,
can you help me with that?
Ms. Albanese. Sure. I can tell you from a national level we
do work closely with them. There are lots of opportunities for
us to work with our Federal partners and we certainly do work
closely with them to look at opportunities for veterans and to
look at potential policy issues as well as additional programs
that may need to be developed to help our veterans become
employed.
Mr. Pearson. I would also add that, you know, we have USA
Jobs. It is a wonderful--actually, a website that we are trying
to create more efficiencies with. There are a tremendous amount
of opportunities, particularly for the veterans there.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. I want to--Doctor, I want to get a
little more into this, the upstream solutions here, because we
are also responsible for the Transition Assistance Program and
we have--I do not want to use the word obstructionist but I am
going to.
I found the Department of Defense to be obstructionist when
it comes to allowing us to access our Transition Assistance
Program. I--maybe other than you--I had a terrible experience
with the Transition Assistance Program. I thought it was nearly
meaningless.
I want to work with you guys to make sure that you know
that there are some very quality things out there that we can
implement but we have got to break the--we have got to break
through that with the Department of Defense.
I mean, I know you are trying to help. I know that we are
trying to help. I also know that it is my responsibility to
make things better to the best of my ability.
I need to know with these--with the TAP program what could
we potentially do, again, to prevent the productive service
member who--man, I lived in a bush on purpose for a long time,
right, as a Navy SEAL--to prevent the person from doing that to
living in a bush because they have to.
Are there any other things that you could think of or
really across the board--I have a little bit of time
--that we could get into the TAP programs that could help
prevent that veteran from becoming homeless or even the at
risk?
Mr. Pearson. One thought, having gone through TAPS just
within the last 5 years, is maybe more dedicated time that
actually we forward, maybe even a VA day. You know, speaking
honestly, that most veterans or most people that are
transitioning are very interested in finding out ways of
compensation.
We do not really spend a whole lot on examining the whole
person. VA has a whole health program that does not just take
you from benefits and everything but it is looking at your
whole experience of life and part of that is how you are
transitioning and taking care of yourself.
That is a recent program that the Veterans Administration
has. It has been growing and growing to include employees. But
it is a great opportunity to actually introduce it there at
TAPS.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. Before we leave I want my staff to
give you a copy of the unclassified document that we got from
Naval Special Warfare today, which is now in MFP 11, which it
is a programmatic thing through the Special Operations Command
for the transition stuff because I think it is nailing what you
are talking about.
Before we go, take a look at that and then I would like
you--I will just give you my personal phone number, if that is
okay. Give me a call.
Mr. Pearson. Absolutely.
Mr. Van Orden. I want to talk to you about this because----
Mr. Pearson. I was deputy force medical officer there in
2015.
Mr. Van Orden. Oh, were you really?
Mr. Pearson. I was.
Mr. Van Orden. Oh, what is up, man?
[Laughter.]
Mr. Van Orden. All right. Well, with that, I yield back. I
now----
Mr. Takano. Mr. Chairman, before you yield back all your
time might I suggest we also look at the skills bridge program
but we also look at some jurisdictional changes that we--your
experience with DOD makes me think--we discussed it when we
were in the majority--the prospect of expanding this
committee's jurisdiction over some programs that DOD runs like
skills bridge, for example, which is a 6-month time period that
those service members still are getting their food and their
pay but could be doing apprenticeship programs, et cetera.
It might get better attention from us than it does from
Armed Services, for example. I might--I might suggest the
majority look at that.
Mr. Van Orden. Well, we will. Thank you very much, and I
yield back.
I now recognize Ranking Member Levin for 5 minutes.
Mr. Levin. Thank you. As the former chairman of the
subcommittee I concur with what Ranking Member Takano said.
It has been a constant struggle trying to get the attention
of the DOD and the jurisdictional issues and the House Veterans
Affairs Committee-House Armed Services Committee (HVAC-HASC)
delineation has been a challenge. We just have to keep working
at it.
Dr. Pearson, I appreciate all the hard work that you are
doing at the Jennifer Moreno VA Medical Center for--on many
levels but one thing is to hire and retain HUD-VASH case
managers, particularly since we passed the Isakson-Roe Act a
couple years ago.
These case managers have some of the hardest jobs I can
think of, some of the highest case loads of any VA employee,
and I am really grateful for their commitment to the mission of
ending veteran homelessness.
How does the Medical Center address the high cost of living
in our area, which frequently makes it difficult to find and
retain talent that can afford to work and live in our region?
Mr. Pearson. Thank you very much for your question.
We have a number of things and PACT Act actually has been
one of the great benefits of late.
We have--looking at some of our very hard to recruit hard
to retain positions and we have--it has afforded us some
flexibility such as retention incentives and so that has been
very key to actually being able to keep on existing staff and
we look at recruitment bonuses also for staff that we want to
bring on.
That has been a necessity and very thankful to Congress for
helping us and getting that passed.
Mr. Levin. Well, let us continue to dialog on that. When we
look at HUD-VASH voucher utilization rates we often associate a
lower rate of utilization with a lack of available case
managers to staff.
The vouchers--I remember a conversation I had with your
predecessor about this. Here, you are operating with a high
number of your case manager positions filled, yet, the voucher
utilization rate remains relatively low with our two public
housing authorities represented here.
Can you speak to why voucher utilization rates remain low
with these Public Housing Agency (PHAs) and any ongoing efforts
to address this, and are there best practices from your
relationship with the San Diego Housing Commission that you
could apply to your processes with the county and Oceanside
PHAs?
Mr. Pearson. Thank you for that question.
You know, our numbers might differ a little bit in how we
are counting because, you know, the VA is in this from the
beginning all the way through to making sure that veterans are
getting housed.
The process is not just with getting the voucher. It is
actually putting the veteran in a house, and so that is why our
numbers look a little--so we are counting all of those veterans
that we are working with because that is a lot of time spent by
our caseworkers in order to do that.
Our numbers are a little higher than what you may have
heard reported. I think there are--were a lot of efficiencies
that were at the convention center, you know, congregating
everybody there.
I think a lot of the wonderful provisions of 4201 that were
able to give us Ride Share were able to get veterans to medical
appointments. Of over 4,400 Ride Shares almost half of those
were for medical appointments and 800 of those were for mental
health appointments.
Okay. We are getting veterans to their mental health
appointments. That--a great efficiency that we are--that we
gained from that.
Additionally, we are getting people to employment
opportunities and housing appointments as well. I cannot also
be thankful enough for the increases in per diem that were
afforded through there.
With 4201(b) we were able to get the increase in per diem.
You know, we are very supportive of the efforts to increase
that to 200 percent, going forward, as in the budget that is
being proposed. Those are necessities and very thankful.
Mr. Levin. Thank you, Dr. Pearson.
Ms. Hines, I want to get your thoughts on this as well with
the time we have got. Can you discuss the referral process
between VA and the Oceanside PHA and how you are all working
together to move veterans into permanent housing more quickly?
Ms. Hines. We are starting to work and we meet on a
biweekly basis, on a monthly basis, to talk about referrals, to
talk about case management. It has been a slow trickle. I mean,
there are months where we get no referrals and months where we
get a few referrals.
We are working on that with--directly with the VA and the
staff, I think, as a region through the county's efforts and
the framework that they are establishing to look at region wide
what are those administrative bottlenecks that are preventing
the referrals and then locally what do we have going on in
Oceanside. Maybe it is an affordability issue that may be
preventing those referrals from happening.
Mr. Levin. I appreciate that. I am running out of time. One
reason I have heard is--particularly for Oceanside is veterans
might want to look closer to services in the city of San Diego.
I will not ask you to answer because I do not want to hear
the--I do not want to hear you get timeout. Obviously, we want
to make sure those services are making their way to North
County and we appreciate it.
I yield back.
Mr. Van Orden. With that, I recognize Ranking Member Takano
for 5 minutes.
Mr. Takano. Thank you.
Ms. Albanese, in our discussion about the emergency housing
voucher lessons you were sort of cutoff. Do you remember what
you were wanting to say about--with respect to other
communities maybe having a greater--so I want to make sure we
got that on the record?
Ms. Albanese. Yes. I would just reiterate that we strongly
support utilizing the admin funds that were available for the
emergency housing vouchers for HUD-VASH and have that mirror
for HUD-VASH.
We do know that we have seen nationwide it has been easier
in some instances for those emergency housing vouchers to be
used and it has also been a little bit difficult for HUD-VASH
to compete with those in some areas. Not everywhere, but in
some areas.
If there was a way to make those same benefits and services
available for HUD-VASH it would certainly help.
Mr. Takano. What it sounds like to me is we ought to
examine how we can redesign or reissue HUD-VASH to more
resemble what was done with emergency housing vouchers during
the pandemic.
Ms. Albanese. Absolutely. I will say that we at the VA have
tried to mimic that ourselves using SSVF. It was the best that
we could do at the time. Having that attached directly to the
HUD-VASH voucher would be better.
Mr. Takano. Okay. Well, that is a big lesson. I thank you
for that. I am glad we got you more time to get that on the
record.
I want to go to Mr. Wechter.
Mr. Wechter, does the Homeless Court engage with community
landlords or housing providers to ensure that those who come
through the court are not discriminated against when accessing
housing?
Mr. Wechter. What I can speak to is from the criminal
aspect from the Public Defender's Office. At our pop-up events
as well as our monthly graduations we do have representatives
from the Legal Aid Society of San Diego that handle the civil
legal end of it.
We do have available resources so when someone does come to
a graduation or they do come to one of the pop-up events they
can consult with Legal Aid to be able to get assistance on
those matters.
Mr. Takano. Well, great. With regard to making sure that
these particular veterans are not discriminated against when
accessing housing is there anything that you are able to do
about that?
Mr. Wechter. On the criminal side, no. It would have to be
something on the civil side with Legal Aid because we have----
Mr. Takano. That is why you mentioned the Legal Aid folks--
--
Mr. Wechter. Correct.
Mr. Takano [continuing]. being there with them. All right.
That is maybe a separate line of question we have or another
witness we have to get here.
Mr. Wechter. Yes.
Mr. Takano. I have been working on legislation to expand
and modernize the HUD-VASH program and a critical part of that
legislation would expand eligibility for HUD-VASH veterans--for
HUD-VASH veterans who are transitioning out of incarceration so
that they do not have to experience literal homelessness to be
eligible for housing assistance.
In many cases some of these formerly incarcerated do not
even have IDs, right, and so at least for our veterans we
should be doing this for all of our formerly incarcerated. Are
there additional protections that Congress could consider to
make it easier for justice-involved individuals to access
housing?
Mr. Wechter. Well, what I can say is that with our new
unit, the Pretrial Advocacy Community Connections Unit, we are
trying to get in as soon as someone is arrested and developing
plans so that when they go through the reentry process they can
get access to a quick ID.
We were working with the self-sufficiency services for the
county to try and make sure that if they do have local benefits
that we can get them access to that as they are, you know,
leaving.
The problem is with the previously incarcerated we are
either dealing with people that have been in for a while or
they are circulating in and out on these lower level crimes.
Talking to them and getting them access to those benefits
and really just getting their idea about what they--what they
have access to is the most important.
Mr. Takano. Mr. Chairman, if we think we are having trouble
with transitioning service members out of the service think
about veterans who are transitioning out of the justice system
and how they fall through the cracks.
That is another--if you think you are having trouble with
DOD----
Mr. Pearson. Would you like me to answer that for you?
Mr. Takano. Please go ahead.
Mr. Pearson. We have a very successful program, actually.
We have actually treated or been able to accommodate more than
233 veterans in this program.
Mr. Takano. Formerly incarcerated?
Mr. Pearson. Absolutely, and so we are actually--there is a
goal that is set nationally. We are actually at 107 percent of
our goal annually, right, at this point already for this year.
We are exceeding what the country is. The national average
right now is about 51 percent and we are over 107 percent. We
actually are working with intensive case management and working
to get people to homes.
Mr. Takano. Boy, I would love to learn more about your
success, especially as it applies to our veterans who are
formerly incarcerated.
Mr. Pearson. Yes.
Mr. Takano. We, certainly, need to find out how we can do
this for all formerly incarcerated. Thank you so much. Well, I
hope we can follow up with the gentleman. Thanks.
I yield back.
Mr. Van Orden. Before I introduce Representative Kim, there
is also a program--I am on the Agriculture Committee and there
is a program under Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) that is specifically designed to help with formerly
incarcerated folks getting job training to make sure that they
break that cycle of recidivism.
That is something we could try to link together between the
Veterans Justice Outreach Program. That is what you are
referring to. Is that correct, Doctor?
Mr. Pearson. Yes.
Mr. Takano. Mr. Chairman----
Mr. Van Orden. Yes?
Mr. Takano [continuing]. I am glad. On SNAP--on the Ag
Committee on SNAP. There is so much we need to do with regard
to food insecurity and veterans.
Mr. Van Orden. Well, then maybe you should come to
Wisconsin. We will talk there, sir.
Mr. Takano. I will be glad to join you and put on a
cheese--put on a cheese hat.
Mr. Van Orden. That is now in the congressional Record. You
all heard it.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Van Orden. I now recognize Representative Kim for 5
minutes.
Ms. Kim. Thank you, Chairman.
The purpose of the hearing is to hear from all of you, the
experts who are actually working in this space and actually
working with the veterans--homeless veterans, specifically.
As we are talking about the best practices here in San
Diego County and on the--especially from the Oceanside area
where you work with a lot of veterans, I wonder in part of your
best practices in trying to get the support and the resources
to them because, at the end of the day, we are all here having
this discussion to better serve the veterans so that we can get
them out of being homeless into someplace that are stable. That
is the ultimate goal here.
In that process how much of your work and effort really
involve dialoguing and talking directly with the veterans? I
wanted to know if you can share some of the best practices that
have worked really well, but at the same time can you also talk
about some of the initiatives that you found to be less
impactful in the process?
I really want to take the information that I am gathering
here today to be able to take it back to my district, which is
just next door.
Mr. Estrella. Congresswoman, I can offer for the county of
San Diego, I mean, as established it has an existing Office of
Veteran Services and Affairs.
That has been a part of our program for many years and, of
course, most recently the Office of Homeless Solutions was
created within Health and Human Services Agency specifically
for outreach and services and creation of new interventions.
As a part of that very much veterans are included with that
and then, most importantly, regionally for the entire San Diego
County region the county right now is in a 15-month effort, you
know, to create an action plan and blueprint to end veterans'
homelessness for functional zero.
Going along the lines of best practices very much that
regional emphasis and having very specific offices that are
charged to provide specific interventions to address the needs
of, you know, each population in the best way that meets them
where they are and provides the needs that they specifically
encounter. Thank you.
Ms. Kim. Ms. Hines, can you talk about, in addition to the
first question but also if there is any initiative that you
found to be less impactful?
Ms. Hines. Sure. Just to add on to the county's efforts, I
think all of us as local jurisdictions need to play the part.
We have heard a lot about outreach and intervention.
I think that that really is the best practice, getting out
where our veterans are, where folks are. Oceanside has a strong
history of community events, outreach. We house four community
resource centers in our more disadvantaged areas.
Getting information out to our military community before
they are at risk, before they are homeless, to connect them to
the right resources, to connect them to the VA, we should be
leveraging those touch points, if you will, on a day to day.
Someone may be coming to a farmers market. Certainly, if
that veteran is thinking--a military personnel thinking about
and being discharged from the military, having VA part of the
farmers market, part of resource events that we hold and doing
that direct outreach, I think, would be beneficial because I
really think and believe that, again, the theme prevention and
intervention before.
Ms. Kim. Sure.
I would like to ask one last question to Mr. Pearson. You
know, when VA hears about, you know, from officials like you
from San Diego County about a particular homelessness program
that is working really well do you communicate these successes
to stakeholders at other VA regions to try to replicate them
and then make sure that all regions are helping our veterans?
Mr. Pearson. Thank you for that question.
Yes, we do. We do. As a medical center director
--we have a forum for medical center directors. It also
goes up to the network VISN--to the Veterans Integrated Service
Networks--but also at the case management level.
All the case management, everybody, is basically working
together in the various communities to share all those best
practices.
Ms. Kim. Well, thank you so much. I will yield back the
balance of my time.
Mr. Van Orden. Outstanding.
Well, thank you very much for coming. The witnesses are now
excused and I do hope you stick around for the second panel so
you can get information from them.
We will take a short recess and get set up for the second
panel.
[Recess.]
Mr. Van Orden. All right. This hearing will reconvene. I
would like to learn how to turn on my microphone.
I would like to welcome the witnesses to our second panel
to the table and, please, just going to ask you to stand and
raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to
provide is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth?
[Witnesses are sworn.]
Mr. Van Orden. Excellent. You may be seated. Thank you. Let
the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the
affirmative. It is Anglea? Is that correct?
Mr. Anglea. Anglea, sir.
Mr. Van Orden. Wow. How about that? Mr. Anglea. Awesome.
You are now recognized for 5 minutes for your testimony.
Mr. Anglea. Wait, where are the colors?
STATEMENT OF GREG ANGLEA
Mr. Anglea. Thank you, sir.
My name is Greg Anglea. I am here on behalf of Interfaith
Community Services. We are a community-based organization
serving individuals in need throughout San Diego County,
primarily here in North San Diego County. We provide more than
75 different programs and last year we had the honor of serving
786 veterans in need.
I am here on behalf of the veterans we have served, on
behalf of our teams, to share a boots on the ground perspective
of what works, what has been proven effective, and what we need
to do more of in order to end veteran homelessness here in San
Diego and support efforts to end veteran homelessness
throughout this country.
As I shared in my written testimony, we have decreased
homelessness as a nation more than 55 percent and the two
biggest factors in that have been a significant increase in
investment of resources by the Federal Government and the
development of strong partnerships, which we have heard a lot
of today and you have seen here locally. That is partnerships
between government, community-based organizations, and
providers.
As has been referenced, the grant per diem transitional
housing program has had additional funding that sunsets next
week on May 11th. That program, which my organization provides
beds here in Oceanside--64 beds, community-based beds--that
program has historically been under funded and providers like
ours have been hamstrung with what we are able to provide.
I want to share some personal experiences of who we are
working with so you can understand the level of complexity we
are dealing with. I will not detail their experiences. It is
more in depth in the written testimony I provided.
I shared about Mr. Jones, a Vietnam veteran Marine, who
came to Interfaith Community Services after he lost his
daughter and his wife within a 1-week period. He attempted
suicide and was homeless.
I shared about Mr. Martin, a Navy veteran who was nearly
beaten to death in a park while experiencing homelessness. He
came to Interfaith with a traumatic brain injury, with memory
loss, and substance use disorder.
I shared about Ms. Smith, an Army veteran, who has a long
history of abuse and trauma from people close to her in her
life and from her military service.
Next week on May 12th the rate of reimbursement to
organizations like my own to help individuals like Mr. Jones,
Mr. Martin, and Ms. Smith will decrease from a maximum of $152
per day to $64 per day.
That amount is not enough to purchase a hotel room in a
community like this, let alone provide housing and the care
that we were able to successfully provide to the veterans I
just described.
Mr. Martin has been approved for HUD-VASH, passed his
appointment for an interview. He is moving into a new apartment
home of his own in the coming weeks.
I included additional testimony from Ms. Smith, who is a
successful graduate of Veterans Treatment Court, has completed
her education and is committing her career to helping other
veterans in crisis.
These life-changing improvements are not possible in a
community like San Diego or most communities in this country
for about $60 a day. It does not fund the housing that these
veterans need. It does not provide the case management, the
addiction treatment, the mental health, the employment services
that are provided.
My organization has the opportunity to provide a number of
these services in partnership with Federal and local
government. We provide recuperative care programs for veterans
exiting a hospital with a recuperative need.
I discussed the grant per diem transitional housing
programs. We are also providing employment assistance, and then
there was talk on the panel earlier about prevention. We
provide that as well funded through private donations because
there is not enough of the existing government resources to
provide that.
We strongly, strongly support going back to the
transitional housing piece, the grant per diem. Passage of acts
like H.R. 491, Return Home to Housing Act, or other legislation
that can increase the reimbursement for these programs.
As we also think about the challenges accessing things like
HUD-VASH and other resources, the grant per diem program is a
place. It is a safe haven for veterans to go to access a stable
home, and for these staff to help these individuals to get into
permanent housing we do need more support. I outlined some
other strategies.
I will close with the words of one of the individuals I
shared from her words, that she will soldier on. Thank you.
[The Prepared Statement Of Greg Anglea Appears In The
Appendix]
Mr. Van Orden. Very well. Thank you, Mr. Anglea.
I just--it occurred to me that I did not realize how that
was pronounced and it is apropos that you are representing the
Interfaith Community Services.
I would now like to recognize Ms. Scrapper for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF HANAN SCRAPPER
Ms. Scrapper. Good afternoon to the assembled members of
this distinguished committee and thank you to Congressman Levin
for the kind invitation.
I am Hanan Scrapper, regional director for PATH San Diego
and it is my great honor to be here on behalf of my
organization. PATH is the most impactful homeless service
provider in California, serving over 60 percent of the Golden
State's unhoused population.
I supervise many programs targeting veterans experiencing
homelessness including grant per diem, or GPD, Veterans Affairs
Supportive Housing or HUD-VASH, Supportive Services for Veteran
Families, or SSVF, and the Homeless Veterans Reintegration
Program, or HVRP.
We also operate a veteran justice reentry program funded
through the county where we pick up each veteran upon their
release from custody and ensure they have immediate housing
placement while providing the supportive services geared toward
preventing reentry.
At any given time we have a little over 400 veterans
enrolled in our programs with an average age of 50. Veterans
make up about 9 percent of our unsheltered population and 7
percent of the shelter population in the San Diego region. On
average there are about 900 individuals who are veterans that
experience homelessness each month.
As a community we house about 80 veterans each month on an
average inflow of 130. To achieve functional zero we need to
house over a hundred veterans each month. San Diego has a
strong collaboration with the VA, the continuum of care,
veteran service providers, and our public housing authorities,
which is how we were able to reduce veteran homelessness by 30
percent last year.
However, the high cost of housing in our region makes it
challenging for us to find viable affordable housing for our
veteran families. The average income for veterans in our
programs is $1,600 per month and an average cost of a one-
bedroom is $2,200.
Based on these numbers, we are finding veterans to be rent
burdened, which is proven to place these households at high
risk of eviction and financial instability.
San Diego is one of the pilot communities to launch the
shallow subsidy program through SSVF. Shallow subsidy expands
housing options and increases the veterans' households' ability
to meet other costly living expenses while receiving a fixed
rate of rental assistance.
This program has been a tremendous help in bridging the gap
of housing affordability for veterans who meet the eligibility.
This also shows that SSVF is serving veterans with high needs
who may need--who may not meet eligibility for HUD-VASH. It
would be beneficial to consider a multidisciplinary team for
SSVF that is geared toward meeting the needs of veterans we
serve in this program.
We are also very excited to be a grantee for the HUD-VASH
program in partnership with the VA and San Diego County. As the
lead street outreach provider for the city and county with
nearly 70 staff deployed across the region, our goal is to
connect every veteran we encounter on the streets to a
permanent housing intervention.
I wanted to share a veteran family story to demonstrate the
level of collaboration that was needed to end their
homelessness. I did change their names for protecting their
identity.
Veteran Angela was experiencing homelessness when she
connected with our SSVF program. Angela had an 8 percent
household and was caring for two elderly members of the
household.
Due to their situation, the household was spread across the
county. Some were in their vehicles. Others were couch surfing.
Once Angela and her family were enrolled in our SSVF program we
were able to place them in a hotel with emergency housing
assistance.
During this process we connected them to HUD-VASH and our
housing specialists located permanent housing through SSVF
while providing application fees, double security deposit, and
5 months of rental subsidy until their HUD-VASH subsidy kicked
in. The veteran family is happily housed and stable.
Sadly, we know that not every veteran household story ends
this way. We need to treat veteran homelessness as a
humanitarian crisis, which is why it is imperative that we
maintain many of the waivers that were in place during COVID-19
pandemic.
Some of the pandemic-era waivers we found to be helpful are
expanding the length of rental assistance beyond 9 months for
SSVF, expanding eligibility for homeless prevention assistance
and shallow subsidy, and increasing providers' flexibility to
use hotels for GPD programs for veterans who may be more
successful in a noncongregate setting.
PATH and fellow providers are a final safety net when all
other systems and policies fail. We appreciate the dedication
of this committee and this Congress to helping us increase the
options available to serving our country's veterans.
It was a great honor to be here today. Thank you.
[The Prepared Statement Of Hanan Scrapper Appears In The
Appendix]
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you very much, ma'am--Ms. Scrapper,
and along with Mr. Anglea's testimony. Written statements will
be entered into the hearing record.
Dr. Potash.
Mr. Potash. That is correct.
Mr. Van Orden. Yes. You are now recognized for 5 minutes to
deliver your testimony.
STATEMENT OF DUSTIN POTASH
Mr. Potash. Thank you so much.
Good afternoon, members of this committee and fellow
providers. I am honored to be here on behalf of Adjoin.
My name is Dr. Dustin Potash and I have the honor and
privilege of serving as the veterans' director for Adjoin. I
oversee multiple programs including the SSVF and shallow
subsidy programs. With nearly 12 years of work in this sector
our organization is built upon the housing first model,
ensuring the goal of low barriers to entry for those in need.
San Diego has seen a reduction in veteran homelessness
through the use of the SSVF and shallow subsidy programs. These
reduced numbers have only come because of the continued efforts
made by service providers, Congress, and local partners, and
the use of the housing first model.
This model ensures that those veterans who may have mental
health needs due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from
events during their time in the military have permanent housing
to better address their needs.
Many of our clients come in with high barriers that make it
very difficult for them to be housed. We would encourage this
committee to continue the landlord incentive program so that we
can continue to offer more options.
At this time I would like to share a story of one of our
clients. The names have been changed.
Emily is an Air Force veteran who received an honorable
discharge. When she came into the program she was living in an
abandoned RV that had no running water or electricity. She had
been asked to leave the RV as it was parked on someone's
property.
Emily was a registered nurse. By the time she came to the
program her nursing license was suspended. Emily had a service
connection compensation of $1,100 per month from the VA. At the
time of enrollment Emily's money was spent on paying for drug
testing as required by the licensing board as part of her
efforts to reinstate her license.
Most of the time Emily was left with no money for other
needs. Emily was in high crisis mode when she reached out to be
enrolled in the SSVF program and it was often challenging to
engage with her.
Emily was consistently stressed due to not having a place
to live and no money to cover basic needs. Emily was estranged
from friends and family due to her constantly asking them for
money to sustain her needs.
With the assistance of an SSVF housing coordinator Emily
found a unit that she liked and we helped her move in. Emily
continued to work on completing all requirements with the
licensing board and after being housed she was able to apply
for Cal-Fresh assistance and was approved.
With the assistance of Adjoin with rent payments and
utilities Emily was able to concentrate on getting her nursing
license reinstated. Emily is now a full time nurse at a local
hospital making $36 an hour.
Her license was reinstated in January 2022. Emily has since
moved into our shallow subsidy program where she has been very
successful.
We appreciate the dedication of this committee and this
Congress for helping to find more solutions to end veterans'
homelessness like Emily.
I do believe, however, there is still a gap in our system
when it comes to a service member transitioning from the
military to civilian life. When talking to many of our clients
many of them state they were rushed out of the military with no
plan in place, which played a role in them becoming homeless.
Since my separation from the military I know this committee
and Congress has implemented the Transition Assistance Program
to help service members with resources, classes, and training
but I believe it needs to go a step further.
It is my belief that service members should already have a
job, permanent housing, and VA disability income if applicable
all secured before leaving the military. I do not know whose
responsibility that falls onto, the military or the community.
One possible solution is to allow providers and grantees to
be a part of that transition process on military installations.
I believe this type of collaboration will drastically reduce
the number of homeless veterans not just here in San Diego
County but nationwide.
The rental rates here in San Diego are high and the
available housing is low, which is another barrier for our
clients. A possible solution would be to allow SSVF and shallow
subsidy providers to turn rundown hotels and motels into
permanent housing units.
Case management and wraparound services would be available
onsite to address needs. Ending veteran homelessness can be
achieved with out-of-the-box thinking and working as a
collaborative.
It was an honor and privilege to testify in front of you at
this committee about the SSVF programs, shallow subsidy
programs, and some possible solutions to better protect those
veterans who served us.
I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you.
[The Prepared Statement Of Dustin Potash Appears In The
Appendix]
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you, Dr. Potash.
The written statement of Dr. Potash will be entered into
the hearing record.
Mr. Spear, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF SEAN SPEAR
Mr. Spear. Good afternoon, Chairman Van Orden and Ranking
Member Levin. My name is Sean Spear and I am president and CEO
of Community Housing Works.
I, first, want to thank you for holding this hearing today
and giving each of us the opportunity to share our perspectives
and ideas with you.
As mentioned earlier, Community Housing Works is a
nonprofit affordable housing developer and owner. We also
provide services to our residents as well.
We are a nationally recognized organization that has been
around for 35 years serving the greater San Diego County,
although we have properties in other--in eight other counties
scattered throughout California as well as property in Texas.
We emphasize providing affordable housing for working
families, seniors, and those with special needs, including
veterans and other people who may have recently experienced
homelessness.
CHW believes that opportunity begins with a stable home and
providing a place that translates to a sense of pride of self
and that that spirit of hope leads to the realization of
dreams.
Today CHW owns more than 4,000 life-changing apartment
homes across the State as well as in Texas, as I mentioned
earlier, with--and that we--our services themselves emphasize
the notions of providing better outcomes to our residents once
they have moved into our developments.
Our services themselves focus on education outcomes from K
through five all the way through those graduating high school
and going on to college or to other certificate programs.
We also provide financial sustainability and well-being
programs and also health and well-being programs primarily
geared toward seniors and those with special needs.
Our informal model is we build futures and that emphasizes
that we do not just provide a roof over people's heads but that
we also help them achieve their dreams of a better future for
themselves and their loved ones.
We at CHW pride ourselves on serving people of many
different backgrounds, including our community's honored
veterans who have done so much for us. We currently have
dedicated veteran units in four of our housing communities with
additional self-identified veterans living within two other CHW
supportive housing communities that are utilizing our partner-
provided case management services.
Whether it is from our own staff in terms of providing the
services or from third party partners, a few of which are at
this table with me, as well as partnerships with the Veterans
Administration more recently, the emphasis is really on
providing resident services that are freely offered to these
residents with the goal of helping them develop a sense of
belonging, camaraderie, and pride for one another and their
community.
For our veterans specifically this work could not be done
without the strong partnership that we have recently forged
with the VA as well as other local HUD-supported public housing
authorities.
I want to emphasize that while we have built positive and
lasting relationships with our local VA offices while utilizing
the HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program, or VASH
for short, we believe that there are administrative steps that
Congress could facilitate to have this program support the
creation of even more veteran-serving affordable housing as
well as get vulnerable veterans into those units more quickly.
In my written statement shared with you earlier I provided
some detail on a set of challenges and suggested solutions
centering around, one, reducing the time lag between when new
units are ready and when VASH-supported veterans are able to
move into those units; second, the unfortunate disqualification
of many needy veterans from being able to occupy those units
based upon their disability benefits and how those are treated
in their income eligibility certification process; and, third,
a set of real estate-related measures that could attract more
private capital to potentially generating thousands of new
veteran-serving affordable housing units and supportive housing
units nationwide.
Authority to project base more rental subsidies within a
given community, more co-location of housing on VA-controlled
land, expanded use of the existing funding authorized under the
2022 PACT Act, and other key reforms that have been spelled out
for the housing tax credit program would be potentially cost
neutral changes that could ultimately spur more of those units
for more veterans.
If time permits as we go forward I am hoping to elaborate
on some of those ideas as well.
Just quickly to say that, you know, we really appreciate
the opportunity to come before you, to share our ideas, and
also hopefully discuss some solutions as we go forward. Thank
you.
[The Prepared Statement Of Sean Spear Appears In The
Appendix]
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you, Mr. Spear.
Mr. Spear's written statement will now be entered into the
record. We will proceed to questioning and I recognize myself
for 5 minutes.
I got to tell you, housing is really hard. I live in rural
Wisconsin and we have a similar problem that you do here in San
Diego. You call it the Pacific Ocean. I call it the Mississippi
River.
We just--you just cannot go that way any farther and how it
affects me in Wisconsin's 3rd District is that we have a real
issue housing migrant agricultural labor and it is the same
story. You know, that is for another committee. We are here
talking about veterans.
I did not see in anybody's testimony the public-private
funding breakdown comparison between, like, 2020 and 2023. Mr.
Anglea, you referred to this, that your donations have kind
of--not there so much anymore. What is the ratio between in
2020 private donations, Federal Government money?
Mr. Anglea. In 2020 the community was very generous in
response to COVID. Private donations made up about a third of
our revenue that year.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay.
Mr. Anglea. For this year it will make up closer to 15 to
20 percent, and I also spoke in my written testimony to our
private intervention is simply not scalable to the level of the
need.
Mr. Van Orden. Yes. I got you.
Ms. Scrapper.
Ms. Scrapper. Generally, for San Diego we rely heavily on
federal-local funding, city and state. We--about 10 percent of
our operating budget would be maybe privately donated or
foundations and such.
Mr. Van Orden. That is consistent from 2020--2019 to 2023?
Ms. Scrapper. Correct. A little spike in the pandemic
during 2020 because people did respond generously.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay.
I am going to skip you for sec, sir. I am going to go to
Mr. Spear. You were quick on that microphone.
Mr. Spear. Sorry. We are a little bit of a different
animal. As a affording housing developer----
Mr. Van Orden. Right.
Mr. Spear [continuing]. we have primarily used both a
combination of developer fee that is allowed under some of the
programs that we use as well as some amount of rental revenue
that comes off of after payment of debt service on properties,
and then we will fund raise for usually our resident services.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. If your----
Mr. Spear. Generally, it is about a third--a third in each
of those cases.
Mr. Van Orden. Has there been a change in that between 2020
or 2019 to now?
Mr. Spear. We have seen some challenges during COVID in
terms of our fundraising work for our resident services. That
has rebounded a bit but we still have a target. Essentially,
the kind of profit that we get off of the developer fee and off
of the rental we then turn back into services.
Mr. Van Orden. Okay. I just----
Mr. Spear. We have had to put more into the services. So--
--
Mr. Van Orden. My concern is this, and I expressed this
when I was running for office, is that a lot of people,
unfortunately, folded some of these funds--these emergency
funds--into essentially programmatics and they started
depending on them knowing full well that they were going to
sunset.
We got to figure out a way to continue to provide the
services that we have, and thank you for being very honest with
that.
Okay. Dr. Potash, me. That is the answer to your question,
me. I am responsible for the Transition Assistance Program as
the chairman of this subcommittee.
When this is not going right it is my fault, and I have
been in Congress for 111 days or something like that. I am
working on it. I also want--I want you to know that these are
the problems that keep me up at night. Like, how did--how did
Emily go from being an RN to living in a mobile home or a RV
without electricity? Again, that did not just happen.
You had a productive person working, I am assuming, at the
time as a registered nurse because she lost her license. How
did she go from there to here? Do you know the answer to that
question? I am asking you.
Mr. Potash. No. You know, that is a big question, right,
and I think it goes back to before she even left the military,
right, addressing any type of needs that she may have either
mental health, substance abuse, the whole gamut. Someone
actually needs to do a hand holding process for these service
members because a lot of them do not have plans----
Mr. Van Orden. Yes.
Mr. Potash [continuing]. and they are being rushed out of
the military.
Mr. Van Orden. Yes. I just--I want to find the answer to
that question because, again, we have to start doing upstream
solutions----
Mr. Potash. Yes, sir.
Mr. Van Orden.--and the only way we are ever going to do
that is if we really meticulously look at how did the person
got there to begin with. Thank you very much for that.
Mr. Potash. You are welcome.
Mr. Van Orden. I appreciate it. With that, I yield back. I
now recognize Ranking Member Levin for 5 minutes to question
the witnesses.
Mr. Levin. I thank the chairman again and I thank all of
you for being with us and for all the great work that you do.
Mr. Anglea, in particular I want to thank you and the work
Interfaith does. You had mentioned that the higher per diem
reimbursement rate for providers that operate GPD transitional
housing is set to significantly decrease in one week and you
also discussed how that is going to impact your ability to
provide services and resources for veterans under your care.
I strongly support fixing this and I hope that we can work
on a bipartisan basis to figure this out. Short of
congressional action what is your plan in the near term? How
are you going to, as you said, soldier on?
Mr. Anglea. Well, Chair Van Orden, as you described, many
organizations received emergency one-time support that was
built into ongoing programming. We did not. We used the one-
time support to provide one-time additional assistance to the
veterans we were working with.
What that means, though, is that we were not able to
provide wage increases that we would like to our master's-
educated case managers, to our licensed behavioral health
specialists providing mental health services, to the addiction
treatment specialists doing this work.
We are working to secure additional revenue sources,
particularly public-private partnerships with health care to
bring forward additional revenues to increase those salaries so
that we can bring on credentialed workers to do this.
Also, increasing peer engagement specialists with lived
homeless experience, and we will rely upon the generosity of
this community to support that work and do the best that we
can.
Mr. Levin. Well, you have my commitment, being very
knowledgeable about the work that you do, that our office will
do whatever we can to assist in that regard.
Ms. Scrapper, I was really pleased to hear PATH is now
providing services for veterans residing in permanent housing
in the HUD-VASH program. I have been exploring tweaks to
modernize the HUD-VASH program including expanding eligibility
to veterans with less acute needs than those historically
served.
Given the significant number of unused HUD-VASH vouchers
across the country and here in San Diego the hope would be to
allow more veterans who just need the vouchers to utilize them
while ensuring case management is retained for veterans who
need that support.
Could you discuss how that might affect the allocation of
case management resources for the veterans who require the most
intensive services?
Ms. Scrapper. Thank you, Congressman.
I think if we are thinking about having HUD-VASH vouchers
for veterans who may not need the case management component I
would worry about losing the much-needed vouchers for those who
truly need case management unless we are thinking about
increasing that utilization or the number of vouchers that
would come into the community.
This would absolutely bridge the gap in housing
affordability that we are talking about because veterans may
not need that long-term high need case management but they are
still at high risk of recidivism and continuously being in the
cycle of homelessness if they are not in a housing stable
situation.
I would say, first, we need to fix our utilization rate so
that we are getting more referrals of veterans into housing and
also looking at the inflow and preventing homelessness from
occurring to begin with, and then also utilizing basic Section
8 that could be considered HUD-VASH that--for veterans who need
that long-term subsidy without case management.
Mr. Levin. Thank you for that answer for the work that you
do.
Mr. Spear, I will turn to you. I appreciated you sharing
how Community Housing Works uses the project-based HUD-VASH
voucher allocations to develop permanent supportive housing for
veterans, and I think you heard the commentary on our first
panel with our government witnesses about the slow uptake of
these sorts of projects in our region.
Do you have any comments you would like to share in
response to that discussion, how should public agencies be
working with organizations like yours and how can we improve
these numbers?
Mr. Spear. Yes. I think the biggest thing is the notion of
the availability of it and, you know, there is a process for
being able to dedicate a certain number of units to serving
veterans through the VASH program.
Certainly, you would want to have more bang for the buck by
being able to kind of lift that cap that was spoken to earlier
about the notion of no more than 10 units or no more than 10
percent of a given development.
This is a resource that when used properly then can
leverage an additional amount of private capital to come to the
deal. By having the rent revenue in the FMRs that gets set, for
instance, by, like, Oceanside and having that become the basis
for the rent that then can attract more debt to the project
that means less public resources that need to be done in order
to do that affordable housing development.
It is a win-win in terms of being able to not only have
additional veterans served but also be able to leverage
valuable public resources for more private capital.
Mr. Levin. Thank you so much for all the work you are
doing. I am out of time but greatly appreciate you all being
with us. Look forward to working with you in the months and
years ahead. I yield back.
Mr. Van Orden. I want to thank everybody for coming out
today and to have me back in California, even though I would
much rather be in Wisconsin, let us be honest. I just--I love
it there. You guys come visit. You will see. I will give you
cheese and your choice of malt beverage.
Listen, no veteran should be going unhoused. We just--we
just should not, and some of my veteran brothers and sisters,
unfortunately, you know, wind up in that situation.
I want to thank you, Mr. Levin, for having us here. I
really do appreciate it and I appreciate your openness and your
candor and the fact that I truly believe that you care about
what we are dealing with and that you truly understand that
sometimes we are not going to agree on everything. I guarantee
if we keep these people and our veterans on the forefront of
our minds that we are going to come to an equitable solution.
Thank you very much for that. We are going to get back to
D.C. and we are going to go to work. That is what--I came here
to get tasked by you and I am going to get down and I am going
to sit down, as I said, with Ranking Member Levin here and come
up with some solutions that are the best for the most amount of
people we possibly can come up with because that is what we
have been tasked to do by you folks here.
That is what we tasked Mike with and back in the 3rd that
is what they tasked me to do. I will tell you what, I have
learned several different things that were disconcerting during
your testimony and, again, a lot of these problems keep me up
at night.
I am a retired senior enlisted man, which means the rubber
will meet the road. There is a lot of time for talk. There is
time for some action.
With that said, I would like to yield back to Ranking
Member Levin for any concluding remarks you might have.
Mr. Levin. Well, I just want to thank the chairman again
for joining us today and I want to thank all of our witnesses
on the first panel and the second for representing our
community really, really well.
I am so grateful for the leadership that you show and the
collaboration that you employ in your duties to serve our
veteran community and it is really an honor to get to work with
all of you in your responsibilities.
I will also take back to Washington, D.C., that sense of
camaraderie and that sense of collaboration because I think it
is sorely lacking in Washington, D.C.
I really want to thank the staff as well, both majority and
minority, for working together in a spirit of collaboration as
well as has been the case for the last number of years on the
committee.
I look forward to going to Wisconsin. I am ready and I am
also ready to take you to one of the great craft breweries in
North County San Diego after this hearing.
With that--with that, I will yield back. Thank you.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Van Orden. Thank you, Ranking Member Levin.
Again, thank you all again for participating in today's
hearing. I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five
legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous materials and I ask unanimous consent to enter into
the record a statement from the San Diego Regional Housing
Commission. Without objection, so ordered.
This hearing stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:43 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
=======================================================================
A P P E N D I X
=======================================================================
Prepared Statement of Witnesses
----------
Prepared Statement of Frank Pearson
Good afternoon, Chairman Van Orden, Ranking Member Levin, and
distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. I also want to acknowledge
Ranking Member Takano who is also with us today. Thank you for the
opportunity to testify on the topic of Veteran homelessness and the
challenges and efforts in ending homelessness among Veterans in San
Diego. I am accompanied today by Jill Albanese, Senior Advisor and
Director of Clinical Operations, VA Homeless Programs Office.
Introduction
While VA provides programs and support services to combat Veteran
homelessness nationwide, we are here to speak about the Healthcare for
Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Program at the VA San Diego Healthcare System
(VASDHS). Our programs have served Veterans to promote housing
stability since 1987, and we work collaboratively with many community
partners to ensure a full continuum of care and services.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought forth many added challenges for
Veterans facing housing instability. However, the VA San Diego HCHV
team relied on innovative solutions, initiatives, and collaborations to
ensure that Veterans have access to housing and services to the
greatest extent possible. This has been achieved through full
participation in coordinated outreach and the use of the community's
coordinated entry system, the provision of permanent and transitional
housing programs and referrals, and the strengthening of our community-
based partnerships.
During the 2022 Point in Time (PIT) Count, the San Diego region
recorded a total of 8,427 sheltered and unsheltered individuals
experiencing homelessness on a single night in February. Sheltered
individuals were considered residing in an emergency shelter,
transitional housing, or a safe haven. Unsheltered individuals were
considered residing in a location not meant for habitation. Of the
persons counted as homeless, 686 (8 percent) self-identified as
Veterans. The homeless person's status as a Veteran and their character
of discharge were not verified during the Count. Of those who self-
identified as Veterans, 308 were sheltered and 378 were unsheltered.
Based on these annual counts, the total number of Veterans experiencing
homelessness in the region has decreased by 27 percent since 2020.
During this same period, the count for the non-Veteran community
increased by 10 percent. The PIT counts show a downward trend of the
region's number of Veterans experiencing homelessness which has
decreased by 58 percent. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a national
suspension of the 2021 Point in Time Count.
Despite decreasing homelessness since 2011, there were challenges
in meeting National VA Goals for permanent housing placements in San
Diego. Nationally, the calendar year (CY) 2022 goal was to house 38,000
Veterans, with San Diego being assigned 842 of those 38,000 placements.
During 2022, we housed 704 Veterans, reaching 84 percent of our goal.
While we increased our housing placements from the year prior, we fell
short of meeting the CY 2022 Permanent Housing Placement goal. San
Diego original goal was impacted by special circumstances in FY 2021
during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, the city of San Diego
utilized the Convention Center and centralized all services for
homeless individuals in the area. This created efficiencies that
enabled us to increase the rate of housing placements. These
efficiencies were not able to be replicated when the Convention Center
closed in 2021, which had an impact on providing services and housing
Veterans in 2022. VA San Diego has also implemented many initiatives
reflected in the testimony below to meet CY 2023 Permanent Housing
Placement goals, aimed at increasing permanent housing, decreasing
recidivism and engaging with Veterans facing homelessness.
COVID 19 Pandemic Impact on Homeless Services
Many of our strongest partnerships and initiatives were further
developed during the early months of the global pandemic. During this
period, VA and our community partners embraced the public health
mandate that aligned with increased funding to engage and house as many
Veterans as possible. While this time was challenging, there were
positive and long-lasting impacts on the community that led to rapid
housing that reflects the decrease in the Point in Time Count data
above. Examples include:
The city of San Diego utilization of the Convention
Center to ensure that all individuals and families struggling with
homelessness had access to shelter, basic necessities and services.
This allowed VA San Diego to increase collaboration with community
partners to streamline services and focus engagement efforts in one
location. VA Programs had over 200 admissions into HUD-VASH and 135
Veterans were transferred directly from the Convention Center into
housing over 11 months. This streamlined process was supported further
by Department of Housing and Urban Development waivers, which San Diego
Housing Commission applied for, and provided increased flexibilities of
documentation that was needed to apply for housing vouchers. While the
national waivers have ended, and the Convention Center closed, these
enhanced partnerships between VA San Diego and our community partners
endure.
Funding flexibilities that permitted Grant and Per Diem
(GPD) to increase the maximum per diem rate for grant recipients which
resulted in additional services to Veterans, including COVID-19
isolation hotels, increased wages for staff retainment, additional
support staff such as housing navigators, and creation of isolation
rooms, in addition to other support services. Each GPD grant recipient
in San Diego benefited from the increased per diem rates which
addressed increased local operational costs. After May 11, 2023, the
per diem rates will return to no more than 115 percent of the State
Home domiciliary rate which is a maximum GPD grant per diem rate of
$64.82 per Veteran per night. We support the legislative proposal
included in the FY 2024 budget that allows VA to increase per diem
payments up to 200 percent of the State Home domiciliary rate. The
increased per diem rates are essential to the survival of our
transitional housing programs, and to ensure Veterans receive the
support they require on their way to permanent housing.
Programs including Ride Share, which enabled Veterans
improved access to health care and housing services. Through Ride
Share, over 4,400 rides were provided in FY (FY) 2022, with almost 50
percent of those rides being used for medical care, and other rides
being given for therapy appointments, vaccinations, employment,
housing, legal follow up, and to access food.
Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) provided
hotel vouchers to be utilized by Veterans who required a non-congregate
setting prior to obtaining permanent housing services.
SSVF also released a special Notice of Funding
Availability (NOFA) in FY 2022 to provide funding and increased
opportunities to support Veterans, including housing navigation staff
and support to locate housing and engage with landlords. In addition,
the NOFA included special funding to assist in payments for Veteran
security deposits, landlord incentives, and a discretionary fund for
Veteran stabilization post housing.
VA San Diego established new partnerships with community-
based programs including Landlord Engagement and Assistance Program,
Brilliant Corners, and San Diego County's Landlord Incentive Programs.
These programs provide ancillary financial support, housing navigation,
and a discretionary fund to Veterans seeking and stabilizing in
permanent housing. These partnerships expedited permanent housing
placements in a housing market that has a high cost of living and low
vacancy rates.
VA Continuum of Care & Programs for Veterans with Housing
Instability
The VA San Diego Healthcare for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Program
provides a continuum of services that includes outreach, medical care,
transitional and permanent housing programs, legal support, employment
services, and many partnerships with community providers. In FY 2022,
the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans team served over 2,000 unique
Veterans within the continuum of care. These programs work
collaboratively with each other, as well as with our community
partners, to assist Veterans in accessing housing and clinically
indicated resources to move toward the goal of ending and preventing
Veteran homelessness.
The VA San Diego HCHV Outreach team utilizes a combination of
clinic and street-based interventions to engage Veterans and provide
resources and referrals. They work closely with our community partners
to screen and refer Veterans to appropriate housing and clinical
services. This is achieved through partnering in the community and
meeting with Veterans together, connecting through our Coordinated
Entry System, bi-monthly case conferencing, and attending community-
based meetings. Additionally, there is a walk-in clinic located at the
VASDHS and staff respond to 40-50 hospital-based consults on a monthly
basis and over 200 monthly national calls from the National Call Center
for Homeless Veterans. In FY 2022, VASDHS received 2,708 calls and as
of March 2023, VASDHS has received 1,413 calls from the National Call
Center.
Special initiatives on this team include:
North County partnership with Interfaith Community
Services, Oceanside Homeless Outreach Team, People Assisting The
Homeless in Downtown San Diego, within the Homelessness Response
Center, coordinated outreach events planned by the city of San Diego,
and multiple annual stand down events. Stand downs are events during
which VA staff collaborates with our community partners and volunteers
to provide food, clothing and health screenings to homeless and at-risk
Veterans. In addition, Veterans also receive referrals for health care,
housing, employment, substance use treatment, mental health counseling
and other essential services.
Participation in the Coordinated Outreach weekly meeting
hosted by the City of San Diego and regular meetings with various
homeless outreach providers.
In the next year, the Social Work team will regionalize
and assign an outreach specialist to different parts of the region, to
include North County, East County, South Bay, and Central San Diego to
include Downtown. This will increase specialization and ensure that the
team can respond to the unique needs of each region within San Diego
and build strong relationships with community-based outreach providers.
VA Transitional Housing Programs offer both Grant and Per Diem
(GPD) beds and Contract Residential Specialty Beds with a variety of
program models including bridge housing, service intensive beds, low
demand, and clinical treatment. In FY 2022, these programs served more
than 450 unique Veterans amongst 5 different programs. VA liaisons work
collaboratively with community partners with clinical and
administrative collaboration meetings to decrease barriers to entry,
enhance engagement, and connect Veterans to services. They ensure each
Veteran has a viable permanent housing plan. New transitional housing
programs that aim to enhance Veterans services include:
Under 38 USC 2061, a new Special Needs Grant for the
Frail and Older Adult Veteran population that works with individuals
who struggle in at least one activity of daily living.
Existing community partners have recently applied for
both transitional housing and case management grants to improve access
to services for Veterans.
Partnerships between transitional housing programs and
Supportive Services for Veteran Families and HUD-VASH to ensure timely
referrals and access to permanent housing placements.
The VA Homeless-Patient Aligned Care Team (H-PACT) team offers both
walk-in and scheduled appointments to more than 300 enrolled Veterans,
assisting Veterans in transitioning out of the hospital and those who
require regular primary care services. Currently, a third of those
enrolled in H-PACT are over 65 years of age and have Care Assessment
Need (CAN) scores of over 90, which indicates that they have higher
medical and mental health needs. The H-PACT team works closely with
both VA medical services and the VA homeless team to ensure that the
Veterans have increased access to care and housing supports.
Special initiatives include:
A vaccination effort in response to community outbreaks
of hepatitis A.
Ongoing efforts to better integrate primary care medical
services into the VA Emergency Department to ensure that any Veteran
needing emergency care has primary care follow up, and to divert those
from the emergency room to primary care, when medically indicated.
A mobile medical unit is slated to be delivered in
quarter (Q)4 of this year that will aim to increase medical outreach
services in the community. The medical unit will allow H-PACT staff to
go into the community to meet with Veterans where they reside for
medical care and support. The medical unit will be shared with the
outreach team for additional efforts to engage Veterans who require
housing supports or other services.
The Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) Program provides outreach,
resources, referrals, and case management services to Veterans with a
variety of justice-involved needs, ranging from those participating in
Treatment Court to those who are incarcerated, those that may be on
probation/parole, and for those in need of homeless court advocacy.
Assisting Veterans in navigating their legal challenges, allows for a
better transition from incarceration to housing, ensures that legal
debts can be forgiven so Veterans can focus on their housing or
clinical needs, and supports diversion so Veterans can access care over
incarceration. Special initiatives include:
Case management services to Veterans involved in the
following treatment court programs: San Diego Superior Court's Veterans
Treatment Court, Federal Military Diversion Court, Homeless Court
Program, and Federal Veterans Treatment Court.
Homeless Court began in 1989, during the first Stand
Down, and inspired many other communities to build similar courts to
serve those struggling with legal infractions linked to housing
instability. Homeless Court assists any individual that is working on
their housing and clinical goals, to address legal infractions and
fines. In FY 2022, Homeless Court dismissed $27,345 in court fines and
fees across 20 participants, with over $375,000 of fines and fees
dismissed since 2018. This program began in 2013, with close to 400
Veteran participants.
A Veterans Module at the Sheriff's Department in the
Vista Detention Center to offer information, resources, and participate
in discharge planning for incarcerated Veterans to ensure that Veterans
are linked to housing, substance use, medical, mental health, and
employment programs prior to their release and case management services
and post services to help reduce recidivism.
A recent expansion of Veteran services within the San
Diego Prison network offering resource information for incarcerated
Veterans regarding filing for VA benefits and resources needed for
reentry.
Employment Support: The HCHV team has employment readiness staff
for those who are interested in workforce participation. Many Veterans
face challenges to obtain or maintain employment when struggling with
housing instability, and they benefit from full or part time employment
once they are housed. Their interventions include assistance with job
placement, coaching, referrals to appropriate community training
programs, resume building, and other employment readiness, which can
include civilian employment opportunities at Federal agencies. The US
Department of Labor provides many Veteran employment services to
include Veteran job listings on USAJobs.gov, information on starting a
business through the Small Business Administration, a national resource
directory, My Next Move for Veterans, employment opportunities by
industry, and the Career One Stop website for career exploration,
training, and jobs. Currently, the VA San Diego has two Employment
Specialists providing services to 173 Veterans. Employment outcomes
within the VA San Diego HUD-VASH program are currently at 41.46
percent, and GPD employment rates are at 50 percent. VA San Diego is
working to on-board additional staffing resources to increase
employment services and improve employment outcomes. Special employment
initiatives focused on continuing to meet these goals include:
Increased collaboration between employment support and
transitional housing program participants to assist Veterans in
accessing employment support as they prepare to transition to permanent
housing.
Job readiness groups in the Vista Detention Facility on
the Veterans module. These groups assist Veterans with linkage to
employment in the transition from incarceration back to the community.
The HUD-VASH Program is a partnership with the Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Veteran Affairs Supportive
Housing (VASH) to align HUD housing vouchers for Veterans with
supportive case management services from VA. Currently, HUD has 2,369
vouchers among 4 different Public Housing Authorities that are assigned
to the VASH Program. Of those, 33 are reserved for future project-based
programs, and 35 were awarded in FY 2023, and will actively be included
in VA metrics starting in FY 2024. Hence, there are 2,301 vouchers
actively counted. As of March 2023, there are 1,738 Veterans housed,
which indicates a voucher usage of 75.5 percent. However, there are
also 147 Veterans and their families with active vouchers searching for
housing, and 39 Veterans and their families have identified housing and
are awaiting PHA approval to sign the lease and move forward with the
identified unit. That indicates an 84 percent usage of vouchers, with
16 percent (377 vouchers) available for use. In comparison to the last
two fiscal years, the percentage of vouchers utilized has remained
steady. However, San Diego has been awarded new vouchers each year
which means increased housing placements for Veterans.
We continue to expand our efforts in the HUD-VASH program with the
work of our VA Supportive Housing Case management team, which has a
robust multi-disciplinary team that includes Social Workers, Nurse
Practitioners, Occupational Therapists, Housing Specialists, and
Registered Nurses.
They work closely together to creatively address challenges in
voucher utilization and the needs of the Veterans they serve with many
initiatives, to include:
Expansion of both project vouchers and sponsor-based wrap
around services to address challenges in availability and cost of
housing.
Expansion of service area into Imperial Valley and
working collaboratively with established medical, mental health, and
SSVF providers in the area to identify and work with Veterans requiring
housing and case management services.
* Service provision to Veterans that were previously considered
ineligible due to the character of their military discharge status or
time in service, with the national expansion of eligibility, and
working with community-based providers for needs outside of housing.
HUD-VASH services contract that was awarded to People
Assisting The Homeless (PATH). The contract enables PATH to provide
case management services for homeless Veterans and assist them with
obtaining and maintain housing through a HUD-VASH voucher.
VA San Diego has worked with our local Public Housing
Authorities to identify special housing types to include board and
cares, independent living facilities, and other shared living
arrangements that are not traditionally used with a housing voucher.
These housing types focus on older adult Veterans to support
independent housing whenever clinically possible through collaboration
with VA Geriatric Extended Care program in an initiative to identify
available resources for our older adult Veterans and decrease barriers
to accessing those resources.
VA San Diego also supported San Diego Supportive Services
for Veteran Families (SSVF) Grantees in applying for additional funds
to support Veterans struggling in obtaining housing. These awarded
funds allowed grantees to serve increased numbers of Veterans, as well
as provided additional housing navigation supports, landlord
incentives, and other financial incentives for eligible Veterans who
have barriers to obtaining housing. This funding also expanded Veteran
eligibility from 50 percent Area Median Income to 80 percent to allow
more Veterans to be eligible for these services.
VASH recognizes the need to assist Veterans who have
graduated from services and prevent returning to homelessness. VASH's
robust Aftercare Team provides services to Veterans who require short
or longer-term assistance, ensuring that Veterans maintain housing.
They engage in over 1,000 calls a year, more than 300 annual HUD
recertifications, and support almost 800 Veterans who are considered to
be in ``graduation status'' to ensure that services are available when
needed. It is estimated that in FY 2022, 378 Veterans were able to
maintain their housing vouchers due to this support.
VA Initiatives and Collaborations
VA San Diego Healthcare System has well established partnerships
with many different faith-based and non-profit programs including:
Interfaith Community Services (ICS), Veterans Village of San Diego
(VVSD); Volunteers of America; Southwest (VOA); People Assisting the
Homeless (PATH); Regional Task Force on the Homeless (RTFH); Family
Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD); Alpha Project, San Diego Police
Department Homeless Outreach Team (HOT); Oceanside Police Department
Homeless Outreach Team (HOT); Vista Detention Center; San Diego
Superior Court--Veterans Treatment Court; Federal Military Diversion
Court; Federal Veterans Treatment Court; The Elks Club; AmVets;
Brilliant Corners; The San Diego Housing Commission; The County of San
Diego Public Housing Authority; the Imperial Valley Housing Authority;
The city of Oceanside Public Housing Authority; HUD; and many other
community partners. VASDHS is the co-founder of Stand Down alongside
VVSD. These community partners have been strong allies in our efforts
to address Veteran homelessness, and we appreciate their contributions
to Veterans' health and welfare. VA cannot end Veteran homelessness
alone, and depend heavily upon collaborative, joint efforts from
community agencies and local governments.
The VASDHS Chief, Social Work Service, is a Board Member of the San
Diego Continuum of Care (CoC) Advisory Board. As part of the CoC, HCHV
is a co-leader for the Veteran's Consortium Committee, which focuses on
community action planning, data sharing, navigating community
relationships, and creating sustainable systems in an effort to end
Veteran homelessness. The Veteran's Consortium is dedicated to creating
an accurate by-name-list of homeless Veterans and utilizing the case
conferencing to identify programs and supports needed to move the
individual to permanent housing.
Included in this effort is the utilization of our community's
Coordinated Entry System to track inflow and outflow of Veterans
experiencing homelessness. This data is utilized to better understand
Veterans needs and provide timely housing services for any Veteran
facing housing instability. The VASDHS' HCHV program participates in
the local Coordinated Entry System (CES). The Coordinated Entry System
is a centralized data base system where Veterans are entered and
matched to the most appropriate level of intervention, based on their
acuity, vulnerability, and housing placement needs. Any participating
agency in the region can enter homeless Veterans' information into the
system which will connect them with available resources that are most
appropriate to the level of intervention needed, including permanent
supportive housing or rapid re-housing programs. In addition to the
work with the CoC, HCHV is currently involved in the County Board of
Supervisors' Initiative to end Veteran Homelessness and participating
in the community workgroups created through the initiative. Past
initiatives that VA San Diego participated in include the Mayor of San
Diego's 1,000 Veterans program, the 25 Cities Initiative, Project 25,
and many others.
Community Based Challenges Facing Veterans
Although our community has made significant efforts to address
homelessness among Veterans in the San Diego area, several challenges
remain. This includes a lack of affordable housing inventory and the
high cost of living in the area. San Diego also would benefit from
increased prevention funds to help Veterans and families maintain in
their current housing whenever possible. We support the FY 2024 HUD
budget proposal that seeks $13 billion for housing vouchers for
extremely low-income Veterans. These Veterans have what HUD calls
``worst case housing needs,'' namely, incomes that do not exceed the
Federal poverty line or 30 percent of the area median income; pay more
than half of their income for rental costs or live in housing with
faulty heating or plumbing; and receive no housing assistance.
Conclusion
VA San Diego Healthcare System and HCHV are committed to ensuring
Veterans have access to housing and services they require and deserve.
We continue to improve access and services to meet the needs of
Veterans. We appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and
the resources Congress provides VA to care for the Nation's Veterans.
We are happy to respond to any questions you may have.
______
Prepared Statement of Leilani Hines
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Prepared Statement of David Estrella
Good afternoon, Chairman Van Orden, Ranking Member Levin, and
members of the committee. Welcome to the County of San Diego. My name
is David Estrella, and I am the Director of the County of San Diego's
Health and Human Services Agency--Housing and Community Development
Services. As such, I am also representing the Housing Authority of the
County of San Diego.
San Diego County is a proud military community. San Diego has the
largest concentration of military and veteran presence in the world
with approximately 120,000 active-duty personnel, and over 230,000
veteran residents. The majority of our active-duty service members are
split roughly evenly between the Navy and the Marine Corps, serving
among our eight military bases in the County. The region has long been
defined by its military presence, however the connection extends past
active-duty service, resulting in military and veterans and their
family members accounting for approximately 35 percent of the entire
San Diego population.
According to the Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH), there
are nearly 1,000 Veterans currently experiencing homelessness in the
region. Over the last several years, the San Diego County Board of
Supervisors (Board) has demonstrated its commitment to addressing the
needs of all people experiencing and at-risk of homelessness. The Board
adopted the County's Framework for Ending Homelessness in 2021 which
created a unified strategic approach to support the coordination of
homeless services and funding. On February 7, 2023, the Board formally
prioritized Ending Veteran Homelessness in the region. The County of
San Diego will join community partners and other local municipalities
in developing and implementing a regional strategic action plan to
achieve functional zero for Veteran homelessness within a 15-month
period and maximize available resources to meet our Veteran's housing
needs across the region.
The introduction of the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH)
program in 2008 has been a key contribution to an over 55 percent
reduction in Veterans experiencing homelessness nationwide since 2010
(from 76,329 Veterans in 2010 to 33,136 Veterans).\1\ According to San
Diego's regional 2022 Point-in-Time Count, while the number of persons
experiencing homelessness saw an overall increase, Veteran homelessness
in the region decreased by over 350 Veterans since the 2020 report,
representing a 35 percent decrease over a 2-year period.
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\1\ San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness -Point in Time
Count Results
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The County of San Diego (County) has been engaged and working with
the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and other partners to
address the challenges in the region. Some recent highlights of County
efforts include:
Enhancing outreach efforts to identify and connect
potential VASH eligible Veterans with the local San Diego Veterans
Affairs Medical Center (VAMC);
Educating and engaging landlords and enhancing the
County's Landlord Incentive Program (LIP) to reduce the amount of time
between voucher issuance and lease-up in competitive rental market;
Connecting Veterans with units by providing vacancy leads
through our Landlord Liaison to the VA for housing navigation; and
Streamlining administrative processes to increase
efficiencies and reduce barriers for Veterans.
While remarkable progress has been made, there is more to be done
to help Veterans experiencing homelessness. According to the February
2023 US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Dashboard,
there are 2,334 VASH vouchers allocated to three of the housing
authorities in the San Diego region. While the Housing Authority of the
County of San Diego, the San Diego Housing Commission, and the
Oceanside Housing Authority have over 1,670 Veteran families leased in
units and receiving VASH assistance, over 650 VASH vouchers remain not
utilized. In order to get our Veterans off of the streets and into
housing, additional outreach and referrals from the local VA are needed
throughout the region.
In 2022, the County received an average of less than 11 referrals
per month. Recognizing the need to increase outreach capacity and
referrals in the Housing Authority of the County of San Diego's
jurisdiction, the San Diego VAMC has recently secured a contractor to
administer a portion of the County's 300 unused VASH vouchers. So far
in 2023, the County has received an average of 15 referrals per month.
While we anticipate seeing the referral numbers to continue grow in
2023, the current pace is not nearly enough to fully utilize the
vouchers within the next 12 months and still leaves too many Veterans
far too long without a place to call home.
The VASH program has been one of the most instrumental resources
available in helping Veterans overcome homelessness. Where the County
has been successful in applying to HUD and bringing additional VASH
vouchers to the region in the past, the inadequate referral rate has
made the Housing Authority of the County of San Diego ineligible to
apply for additional VASH vouchers (based on utilization rate
thresholds). Not being able to apply for additional vouchers is a
missed opportunity to help more Veterans move from the street and into
permanent housing.
Identifying ways to enhance the San Diego VAMC's capacity to
identify and refer homeless Veterans to the housing authorities, such
as expanding the local VA's current contract or entering an additional
contract, is critical to fully utilizing the VASH resources available
within San Diego County. Additional strategies that would help
streamline access to VASH vouchers for eligible Veterans include:
Expanding program-wide VASH waivers to align with
flexibilities already allowed under the Emergency Housing Voucher and
Stability Voucher programs, programs with populations like VASH
recipients.
Increasing the amount of VASH project-based vouchers, or
PBVs, that the local VA will support per proposed housing development.
Currently there is limit of 10 VASH PBVs per development or 10 percent
of the requested PBV units; whichever is greater.
Ensuring the San Diego VAMC and other partners provide
adequate and equitable outreach/referrals throughout the region. The
Housing Authority of the County of San Diego's jurisdiction includes 13
of the 18 incorporated cities and all unincorporated areas.
Encouraging HUD to release guidance on qualifying housing
authorities to become Designated Service Providers to help the VA with
outreach and case management for a portion of the VASH vouchers.
Through a comprehensive, urgent, and collaborative approach, the
County has committed to work in partnership with stakeholders including
local municipalities, the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, the VA,
and other community partners toward Ending Veteran Homelessness in San
Diego.
Thank you for your time and attention and for inviting me to share
our experiences in helping Veterans overcome homelessness. I welcome
any questions that you may have.
______
Prepared Statement of Matthew Wechter
Chairman Van Orden, Ranking Member Levin, and distinguished members
of the Committee: On behalf of the County of San Diego Department of
Public Defender, our Chief Deputies, and the members of our office,
thank you for inviting me to testify on the issue of Veteran
Homelessness.
Thank you for inviting me to the hearing on this very important
topic. Since my first years as an attorney in this office, it has been
clear to me the strong commitment that the San Diego Public Defender -
and the greater County of San Diego community - has to serving our
homeless veteran population. Veteran issues are always at the forefront
of our concerns; our court has a Veteran Court, we have the new
Community Care Coordination for Veterans program, and are always trying
to find ways to support our veteran community - housed or unhoused.
Let's be clear - not all veterans are unhoused, and not all
unhoused individuals are veterans; but veteran homelessness is an
unacceptable combination phenomenon. Of all our various populations
that do not have adequate shelter, veterans should not be counted among
them. All levels of government have worked hard over the past several
years, and made great strides to reduce the number of unhoused
veterans; they should be applauded for their amazing efforts and
results in this area.
With several military facilities within our borders, San Diego
County is a heavily veteran-focused community that still has work to
do. That being said, San Diego CAN get to Functional Zero - but only if
we remove barriers to their success. I will focus my written comments
on how we can make that happen through removing legal barriers.
Addressing Legal Issues is Paramount to Exit the Cycle of Veteran
Homelessness
Two examples of this scenario may be illustrative.
Example 1: A veteran is cited for a minor quality of life offense,
and doesn't show up to court (as is often the case) because they are
more concerned with their next meal or their safety on the streets than
keeping track of the court citation. As a result of their non-
appearance, a warrant is issued for their arrest. That warrant may
result in them being denied certain benefits, or housing, they may face
barriers to some treatment programs that will not allow entry, or they
may refrain from reporting themselves as a victim of a crime because
they are frightened of being arrested. In either situation, that
veteran is more likely to stay on the streets for years in the cycle.
Example 2: A veteran is cited for the same offense, but shows up to
court. They plead or are found guilty, and are assessed fines and fees
and put on probation. Through probation, or on their own, they engage
in substance use or mental health treatment, or work with a housing
provider for a voucher. At the end of working with that case manager,
they are ready to graduate and get into housing. However, the fines and
fees have gone to collections, and they owe several thousands of
dollars in fines/fees, the housing is denied, and they fall back into
homelessness.
In both of those examples, without addressing the legal issues that
are the collateral consequences of being unhoused, the cycle of
homelessness will continue. What can be done?
Origins of Homeless Court in San Diego - Stand Down
In 1988, the first Veteran Stand Down event was held in San Diego
County. Stand Down events are one-stop-shops, where those veterans and
their families that are homeless, or at-risk of homelessness can come
and engage with community services. In San Diego, that event is a 3-day
event, formerly at the San Diego High School field, where the veterans
can stay for the duration of the event onsite, bunking with other
veterans in a safe, secure and welcoming environment. Volunteers come
from all aspects of the community - food service, clothing, medical,
dental, jobs, substance use help, musical entertainment, haircuts, and
so much more.
One of our retired Public Defenders was among those volunteers -
Steve Binder. He was part of an exit survey of the veterans at the 1988
event; the most requested item for help listed was ``legal help''. In
response to that survey, Mr. Binder went to the Superior Court and
asked that the court participate in future events. The court's initial
- and understandable - response was, ``we are open 9-5 Monday through
Friday, have them come down and we will help.'' Mr. Binder's response,
in 1989, was ahead of its time; he and the members of the Stand Down
volunteer team told the court, ``Your Honor, with all due respect, that
isn't good enough. We need to serve and meet these veterans where they
are.'' And the Court listened. So, in 1989, the Public Defender, the
Superior Court, the City and District Attorney, all came to the Stand
Down event to do just that. Based on the participation and engagement
of the veterans with the multitude of services provided to them, minor
quality of life offenses \1\, fines, and fees that had been hanging
over the heads of these veterans were pulled from the courtrooms to the
Stand Down ``courtroom'' where the judge appeared and lifted the weight
and burden of these cases off their shoulders.
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\1\ The cases handled at Stand Down/Homeless Court are of the minor
variety - infractions and minor misdemeanor cases. These may be a minor
nuisance to any one of us, but getting to court across town, on time,
and/or a $100 fine for an unhoused individual who is attempting to find
food for their next meal or find shelter from the cold can prove to be
an insurmountable barrier.
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These cases being lifted are not insignificant. Many times a minor
unpaid traffic infraction can result in a court ``hold'' on someone's
Driver's License, or be referred to collections and cause a negative
report on a credit report. An outstanding warrant can prevent someone
from accessing the full benefits or receiving housing for which they
may be entitled. The Homeless Court portion of Stand Down successfully
provides opportunities for veterans experiencing homelessness, mental
health issues, and substance abuse to receive services to address their
needs. With the exception of COVID, the Public Defender and the rest of
the justice partners have been there almost every year since 1989, rain
or shine, to continue that tradition. Homeless Court @ StandDown was
born.
Homeless Court and Stand Down Today
In 2001, through a grant, the monthly Homeless Court Program,
similar to its current form, was born. Building off the model of the
Stand Down event, individuals who are homeless or at risk of
homelessness, can participate with an approved Homeless Court Program
community provider (including the VA, and some others testifying on
this panel), be referred to us, and their minor infraction and
misdemeanor cases can be dismissed and/or fines and fees satisfied. The
model is one of ``recognition'' of the work someone is doing on
themselves to identify the root causes of their homelessness and
justice-involvement, addressing it through engagement in services, and
the Court merely getting out of the way of their positive trajectory.
Homeless Court @ Stand Down and the standard Monthly Homeless Court
Program are alive and even stronger today. The American Bar Association
Commission on Homelessness and Poverty \2\ lists the Homeless Court
Program as one of its national initiatives, providing technical
assistance to jurisdictions across the country to create or improve
their Homeless Court Programs with San Diego as the gold standard. The
California Chief Justice's Workgroup on Homelessness Report listed
creation of more Homeless Courts as one of the recommendations to the
Chief Justice \3\. We are in the planning stages now, with Veteran's
Village of San Diego, to put on the 2023 Stand Down event in late July.
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\2\ https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/
homelessness_poverty/initiatives/homeless-courts/about-homeless-courts/
\3\ https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/hwg_work-group-report.pdf
(Recommendation 2.1)
Innovation in the HCP Model - Stand Down as a Model for the San Diego
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Homeless Court Pop-up Resource Fair
In the same way the Stand Down Homeless Court paved the way for the
monthly Homeless Court Program accessible to veteran and non-veteran
alike, in 2021 the Public Defender, City Attorney, District Attorney,
DMV, County Office of Homeless Solutions and Equitable Communities, and
Superior Court decided to go even further in adoption of the Stand Down
model to all unhoused individuals. On a monthly basis, the above
partners and several hyper-local community-based providers join
together in a geographic location(s) where there is demonstrated need
for these services. The events have been widely popular, and many
communities have asked for the HCP Pop-up Resource Fair to be held in
their community.
At the Pop-up, veterans (similar to the Stand Down model) and non-
veterans alike can walk up to engage in resources, including benefits,
medical, showers, substance use. In exchange for that engagement, the
Homeless Court is there to immediately clear the cases holding up their
license, and clear outstanding warrants that may prevent them from
accessing benefits or housing. We can do this immediate relief now as a
result of the forced innovation to keep the court lights on during
COVID. With a judge and clerk on call at the courthouse, relief can be
granted with a click of a button.
If the clients have other non-immediate barriers, they are referred
to one of our approved Homeless Court Network Providers \4\ to further
work on themselves and go through the traditional Monthly Homeless
Court Program to satisfy the remainder of the cases/fees.
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\4\ http://homelesscourtprogram.org / http://bit.ly/sdhcp
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Homeless Court for Veterans nationwide
Stand Down may have some of its initial origins in San Diego, but
they occur throughout the country in communities with a high veteran
population. Several Federal agencies also support Stand Down events
through grants and other supportive work.\5\, \6\ Stand Down
events are an important ``surge'' to provide community support in a big
way, but these events are traditionally one time per year, and have
varying degrees of court/legal barrier relief; some may include civil
legal aid, or basic post-conviction consultation, but no meaningful
active case assistance. Without relief of legal issues, the cycle of
homelessness for veterans will continue.
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\5\ https://www.va.gov/homeless/events.asp
\6\ https://www.dol.gov/agencies/vets/programs/
StandDown#:?:text=Stand %20Downs %20(SD) %20are %20typically,VA
%20Social %20Security %20benefits %20counseling.
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Conclusion
San Diego has been a leader in addressing the legal needs of its
veterans for the past 30 years - both in the San Diego County community
and beyond in consulting with other jurisdictions to improve their
offerings. By supporting more regular monthly Homeless Courts and Stand
Down/Pop-up style events that clearly incorporate legal relief, where
the veterans need it most, we can further stem the tide of veteran
homelessness and work toward veteran Functional Zero.
______
Prepared Statement of Greg Anglea
Introduction
Today, we can honestly say that ending Veteran homelessness is
possible. We can say that empirically, because as a nation since 2010
we have decreased Veteran homelessness more than 55 percent. This
progress included an 11 percent decrease between 2020 and 2022,
demonstrating that even among the challenges of pandemic, ending
Veteran homelessness is possible.
Two factors are primarily responsible for these successes:
1) Increased investment from the Federal Government in housing
solutions and supportive services for Veterans experiencing and
at-risk of experiencing homelessness
2) Strong coordination and partnership within the Federal
Government (especially the VA & HUD), with State and local
government at all levels, community-based organizations,
Veterans groups, business leaders, philanthropy, and faith
communities.
San Diego County has exemplified the positive outcomes of these
factors, realizing a more 30 percent decrease in Veteran homelessness
over the past four years. Recent and ongoing commitments from our
congressional Representatives, the County of San Diego, the San Diego
Regional Taskforce on Homelessness, and a large network of Veteran-
serving community-based organizations will build on these strengths and
drive San Diego toward ending Veteran homelessness.
Despite these strengths and the positive progress we have realized,
significant challenges remain. Veterans need additional Congressional
support to end Veteran homelessness in San Diego, and to support
similar efforts in communities throughout the United States.
Interfaith Community Services' Role in Ending Veteran Homelessness
Interfaith Community Services (Interfaith) operates more than 75
diverse but complimentary programs addressing poverty, inequities, and
homelessness throughout San Diego County, with an emphasis on North San
Diego County. Last year we provided services to 19,175 people,
including 786 Veterans.
Interfaith operates the following programs exclusively for
Veterans:
Post-Hospitalization Recuperative Care for Veterans
o 16-bed contract with VA for Veterans with VA
Healthcare Benefits who are discharging from local
hospitals (including VA Medical Center), and in need of
both housing and medical respite care
VA Grant Per Diem Transitional Housing for Veterans
o 64-beds of community-based Service Intensive
Transitional Housing as well as Bridge Housing Grant
Per Diem VA-funded Transitional Housing
Equity Target Populations Fund Employment Training
Program for Veterans
o State California Employment Development Department
(via Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Governor's Discretionary funds) grant to provide
workforce training for Veterans
Veterans Housing Stability
o Privately funded case management and homeless
prevention rental assistance for Veterans at-risk of
homelessness
Veterans Behavioral Health
o Privately funded behavioral health clinicians to
address Veteran mental health needs pre/post entry into
existing Interfaith Veterans programs
Strengths, Challenges, and Opportunities for congressional Action
1) VA Grant Per Diem (GPD) Transitional Housing
Nationwide, GPD programs housed more than 10,000 Veterans in 2022,
with the VA reporting that GPD providers are demonstrating some of the
highest performance outcomes in GPD history.
This is a direct result of the two primary factors cited above:
1) Increased investment by the Federal Government in Veterans
in the GPD program
2) Strong partnership and coordination between government, GPD
service providers, and key community stakeholders
The increased investment in Veterans via GPD was the result of
COVID public health regulations which will sunset May 11, 2023. This
will reduce the maximum per diem rate for a GPD provider from $152.73
to just $64.52. In high-cost communities like San Diego, $64.52 per bed
night does not support the cost of emergency shelter, and it certainly
will not cover the cost of proven effective and critically needed,
service-intensive GPD Transitional Housing programs serving the complex
needs of Veterans experiencing homelessness.
To demonstrate the severity of these challenges, we would like to
share the following stories of Veterans Interfaith has been able to
effectively serve this past year as a result of increased GPD
reimbursement rates (names have been changed):
Rick Jones, USMC Vietnam Veteran. Mr. Jones was living in his
car when coming to Interfaith, after his wife died from an
accident and his daughter died in that same week from a heart
attack. He was drinking alcohol daily, and attempted suicide
before coming to the GPD program. In GPD he received support
from case management, participated in an active recovery group,
and engaged in behavioral health counseling. He stabilized his
mental health, was taken off the suicide prevention list, and
stopped drinking alcohol daily. He completed steps to ensure
his financial stability, and was able to save $9,000 while in
the program.
Tim Martin, Navy Veteran. Mr. Martin came to Interfaith about
being attacked while sleeping in a park. He has a Traumatic
Brain Injury, memory problems, and substance use disorder. He
had problems budgeting his money, using appropriate social
skills, and remembering his appointments. While at Interfaith's
GPD program he was able to attend his doctor appointments,
learn budgeting skills in order to be able to pay his rent, and
improve his social skills. While at the program he attended
case management, active recovery group, and life skills. Mr.
Martin has displayed a need for continued case management, so
Interfaith has helped him apply and gain acceptance into the
HUD-VASH program. He recently passed an interview for an
apartment application and will be moving in soon to his new
home.
Vanessa Smith, Army Veteran. Ms. Smith has a long history of
abuse and trauma from people close to her, including her
family. She suffers from physical, mental health, and substance
abuse related issues. Interfaith's GPD has provided a safe
haven for Ms. Smith to heal and recover. She entered without
housing, traumatized, unemployed, and with significant debt.
Through case management support, therapy, and Veterans
Treatment Court, Ms. Smith has completed her education, found
stable employment, paid off her debt, and learned to use the
supportive resources to establish her independence.
Dignified and safe housing which provides professional, Veteran-
centered support services to address trauma, physical problems, mental
health, and addiction, cannot be provided for $64.52 per day in a
community like San Diego.
The success of more than 10,000 Veterans served throughout our
Nation in 2022 in the GPD program, supported by a funding reimbursement
rate commensurate with the actual cost of providing these services,
have proven that we have the resources and strategies to overcome the
most challenging of situations for Veterans who have served our
country.
Opportunity for congressional Action: As a GPD provider facing the
funding cliff May 12, 2023 will bring, we emphatically support and
advocate for passage of H.R. 491 - Return Home to Housing Act, which
would increase the maximum rate of per diem payments provided by the
VA.
2) Homeless Prevention
The VA's Supportive Services for Veteran Families provides a small
amount of homeless prevention rental assistance, which in practice does
not meet community need. Veterans and Veteran families proactively
reach out to providers like Interfaith seeking to maintain their
housing, but we often do not have the resources to prevent them from
becoming homeless.
In San Diego County the Regional Taskforce on the Homelessness
Homeless Management Information System reports that over a 12-month
period, for every 10 persons who overcome homelessness 13 people became
homeless for the first time. We cannot end Veteran homelessness in San
Diego or in other communities unless we can do a better job of
preventing more Veterans from becoming homeless in the first place.
Interfaith currently addresses this need through limited amounts of
donations from foundations, individual donors, and faith communities.
That resource cannot scale up to meet societal need among Veterans.
Additional Federal investment is needed.
Opportunity for congressional Action: Support increased homeless
prevention rental assistance funding, which will leverage existing VA
investments, and reduce longer-term need for homeless-focused housing
and service interventions.
3) Supportive Housing for Medically Fragile Veterans
The VA's Healthcare for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) program supports
critical functions nationwide for medically fragile Veterans:
Outreach Services
Case Management Services
Contract Residential Service Programs
Interfaith currently operates a 32-bed post-hospitalization
Recuperative Care program, which includes a 16-bed HCHV contract for
Veterans being discharged from local hospitals. Interfaith has
leveraged the success of this program to secure a $9MM investment from
the County of San Diego and $5MM of private donations to purchase and
renovate former motel site in Escondido, CA which will open in May 2023
as the 106-bed Abraham & Lillian Turk Recuperative Care Center.
Interfaith programs serving medically fragile, often older
Veterans, also heavily refer to and utilize local CalVets Veteran Homes
in San Diego (Chula Vista) and Barstow, which provide an array of long-
term supportive housing options, including memory care and assisted
living.
HUD-VASH provides critically needed permanent supportive housing,
though there are a growing number of Veterans who require greater
levels of support than most stand-alone, community-based, HUD-VASH
housing provides. Additionally, there are not enough safe, dignified
housing units locally for Veterans who have secured a HUD-VASH voucher.
Opportunity for congressional Action:
Explore additional HCHV opportunities to leverage growing
intersection between health and homelessness to increase Contracted
Residential Services Programs for medically fragile Veterans, also
strengthening Outreach Services to better utilize existing VA and
civilian resources which can benefit medically fragile Veterans
Support the creation of additional Veteran Homes for
older and/or medically fragile Veterans, building off the success of
CalVets Veterans Homes
Provide longer term substance use disorder treatment
programs geared toward Veterans
Conclusion
The Federal Government and its partners throughout the Nation have
proven that ending Veteran homelessness is not only possible, but in
communities like San Diego it is well within our grasp in the months
and years ahead. Congress has the opportunity to build on the successes
of the VA GPD program, Homeless Prevention, and Healthcare for Homeless
Veterans. Doing so will support an end to Veteran Homelessness not just
in San Diego County, but in communities throughout the United States.
I will close with words from a Veteran Interfaith has had the honor
of serving, and who has found success through both the GPD program and
Veterans Treatment Court:
When I took off my uniform, I believed that my service had
ended. The way that it ended is something that I have struggled
with every day since. I remained in isolation believing my
service had been dishonorable. I had not been able to reconcile
my sense of duty and love for my country with this assumption.
What I know now is that although I have taken off my uniform my
service has not ended. What I will not do is take for granted
those who have fallen and been lost to the wars within by
giving up or retreating in isolation. I will honor them by
continuing to serve to the best of my ability and all of the
capacities for which I am most suited.
What I will not do is fall prey to the belief that I can find
an easy way or quick fix. I will not turn to any substance or
any other person to fill empty spaces within. I will not allow
a bad day accumulate into bad weeks or months or years. I will
not allow one person's disapproval or rejection of me convince
me that it is a representation of the entire world viewpoint of
me. I will not let one mistake represent total failure. I will
not let one bad mood trick me into relapse. I will show myself
grace and fill empty space with routine, consistency and
accountability. I will soldier on.
Going back to school, getting a degree in criminal justice,
starting as a paralegal, and allowing myself to find where I
can be most effective in ensuring that no one is ever left
behind; that is my path.
Thank you for your time today, for inviting Interfaith to share our
experiences and expertise helping Veterans and Veteran families
overcome homelessness. We look forward to and offer anything that
Interfaith Community Services can do to help this committee in your
work.
______
Prepared Statement of Hanan Scrapper
Good afternoon to the assembled members of this
distinguished Committee and thank you to Congressman Levin for the kind
invitation.
I'm Hanan Scrapper, Regional Director for PATH San Diego,
and it is my great honor to be here on behalf our organization.
PATH is one of the most impactful homeless service
providers in California, serving over 16 percent of the Golden State's
unhoused population.
I supervise many programs targeting Veterans experiencing
homelessness, including grant per diem, or GPD; Veterans Affairs
Supportive Housing, or HUD VASH; Supportive Services for Veterans
Families, or SSVF; and the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program, or
HVRP. We also operate a Veterans Justice Re-entry program funded
through the County. Where we pick up each Veteran upon their release
from custody and ensure they have immediate housing placement while
providing the supportive services geared toward preventing re-entry.
At any given time, we have a little over 400 Veterans
enrolled in our programs, with an average age of 50.
Veterans make up about 9 percent of our unsheltered and 7
percent of the sheltered population in the San Diego region. On
average, there are about 900 individuals who are Veterans that
experience homelessness each month.
As a community we house about 80 Veterans a month with an
average inflow of 130. To achieve functional zero, we need to house
100+ Veterans each month.
San Diego has a strong collaboration with the VA, CoC,
Veteran service providers and our public housing authorities, which has
helped us in reducing Veteran homelessness by 30 percent as shown in
the 2022 Point In Time Count data.
However, the high cost of housing in our region makes it
challenging for us to find viable affordable housing for our Veteran
families. The average income for Veterans in our programs is $1,654 per
a month and the average cost of a 1 bedroom in San Diego is $2,295.
Based on these numbers we're finding Veterans to be rent burdened which
is proven to place these households at high risk of eviction and
financial instability.
San Diego is one of the pilot communities to launch the
Shallow Subsidy program through SSVF. Shallow Subsidy expands housing
options and increases the Veteran households' ability to meet other
costly living expenses while receiving a fixed rate of rental
assistance.
This program has been a tremendous help in bridging the
gap of housing affordability for Veterans who meet the eligibility to
receive the assistance. This also shows that SSVF is serving Veterans
with high needs who may not be eligibility for HUD-VASH. It would be
beneficial to consider a multidisciplinary team for SSVF that is geared
toward meeting the needs of Veterans served in the program.
We're also very excited to be a grantee for the HUD-VASH
program in partnership with the VA and San Diego County. As the lead
street outreach provider for the City and County with nearly 70 staff
deployed across the region, our goal is to connect every Veteran we
encounter on the streets to a permanent housing intervention.
I wanted to share a Veteran family's story to demonstrate
the level of collaboration that was needed to end their homelessness. I
did change the names in this story to protect their identities.
Veteran Angela was experiencing homelessness when she
connected with our SSVF program. Angela had an 8-person household and
was caring for two elderly members of the household. Due to their
situation the household was spread across the County, some were in
their vehicles and others were couch surfing.
Once Angela and her family were enrolled in our SSVF
program, we were able to place them in a hotel with emergency housing
assistance. During this process, we connected them to HUD-VASH.
Our housing specialist located permanent housing through
SSVF and provided application fees, double security deposits and 5
months of rental subsidy until their HUD-VASH voucher took over the
rental payments. The Veteran family is now happy and stably housed.
Sadly, we know that not every Veteran household's story
ends this way. We need to treat Veteran homelessness as a humanitarian
crisis, which is why it is imperative that we maintain many of the
waivers that were applied during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of the pandemic era waivers we found to be helpful
are: expanding the length of rental assistance beyond nine months for
SSVF, expanding eligibility for homeless prevention assistance and
shallow subsidy, and increasing providers' flexibility to use hotels
for GPD programs for Veterans who may be successful in non-congregate
settings.
PATH and our fellow providers are there as a final safety
net when all other systems and policies fail.
We appreciate the dedication of this Committee and this
Congress to helping us increase the options available to us to serve
our country's Veterans with dignity.
It was a great honor to be here today to share our
experiences with operating various Veteran programs and some
suggestions on how to improve its efficacy moving forward.
Achieving functional zero for Veteran homelessness is
possible, but we can only do this together.
Thank you.
______
Prepared Statement of Dustin Potash
Good Afternoon to the assembled members of this
distinguished Committee. It is my great honor to be here on behalf of
ADJOIN.
I want to specifically thank Congressman Levin for
inviting me here today and for his persistent pursuit to find solutions
to end Veteran homelessness.
My name is Dr. Dustin Potash and I have the honor of
serving as the Veterans Director for ADJOIN.
ADJOIN is one of the most impactful veteran homeless
service providers in San Diego and Imperial County, serving over 4,000
homeless veterans since its inception in 2011.
I supervise several programs that focus on Veterans
experiencing homelessness, including Veterans Affairs Supportive
Housing, or HUD VASH; Supportive Services for Veterans Families, or
SSVF; and the Veterans Affairs Shallow Subsidy Program; and I've been
working with unhoused Veterans for a large portion of my career.
The most significant point that I can share with you
today is that San Diego is making great advances in reducing Veteran
homelessness through' the use of SSVF and Shallow Subsidy.
This remarkable progress has come thanks to a meaningful
focus and investment from Congress, our Federal partners, strong
collaboration at the local level, and our dedication to the Housing
First model.
This model is especially vital to our Veterans, who may
have greater substance use and mental health needs due to the
inherently difficult, and potentially traumatic, nature of their
military experiences.
With nearly 12 years of work in this sector, our
organization is built upon the Housing First model, ensuring the goal
of low barriers to entry for those in need.
ADJOIN is a firm believer in this approach and is fully
committed to this goal
Greater adherence to the Housing First model in all SSVF
programs across the nation can help to replicate San Diego's success in
reducing Veteran homelessness.
Most of our participants frequently have high barrier
obstacles that make it harder for them to successfully get housed. We
would encourage you to continue the landlord incentive program so that
providers can continue to offer a greater variety of options to this
important population.
ADJOIN and our fellow grantees are here as a final line
of defense when all other systems and policies fail.
In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this
approach and show how these programs are working in real life, I'd like
to share a client story; I did change the names in this story to
protect identities.
Emily is an Air Force veteran who received an honorable
discharge. When she came into the program, she was living in an
abandoned RV that had no running water or electricity.
She had been asked to leave the RV as it was just parked
on someone's property and Emily did not pay rent to live there.
Emily was a registered nurse but at the time she came
into the program, her nursing license was suspended.
Emily had a service connection compensation of $1100.00
per month from the VA. At the time of enrollment, Emily's money was
spent paying for drug testing as required by the licensing board as
part of her efforts to reinstate her license.
Most of the time Emily was left with no money for other
needs. Emily was in high crisis mode when she reached out to be
enrolled in the SSVF program and it was often difficult to engage with
her.
Emily was constantly stressed due to not having a place
to live and no money to cover her most basic needs.
Emily was estranged from friends and family members due
to her constantly asking them for money to sustain her needs.
With the assistance of a SSVF housing coordinator, Emily
found a unit that she liked and we helped move her in.
Emily continued to work on completing all requirements
with the licensing board and after being housed, she was able to apply
for Cal-Fresh assistance and was approved.
With the assistance of Adjoin with rent payment and
utilities, Emily was able to concentrate on getting her nursing license
reinstated.
Emily completed all requirements, and her license was
reinstated in January 2022. Emily was hired as a nurse and Adjoin
assisted with her nurse uniforms and shoes.
Emily is now a fulltime nurse at a local hospital, making
$36 an hour.
Emily has since moved into our Shallow Subsidy program
where she has been very successful.
We appreciate the dedication of this Committee and this
Congress to helping us increase the options available to us to serve
our country's Veterans with dignity in the hopes of replicating success
stories like Emily.
I do believe however, that there is still a gap in our
system when it comes to a service member transitioning from the
military into civilian life.
When talking to many of our clients, many of them state
that they were rushed out of the military with no plan in place which
played a role in them becoming homeless.
Since my separation from the military, I know this
Committee and Congress has implemented the Transition Assistance
Program to help servicemembers with resources, classes, and training
but I believe it needs to go a step further.
It is my belief that service members should already have
a job, permanent housing, and VA disability income (if applicable) all
secured before leaving the military.
I don't know who that responsibility falls on to; the
military or the community?
One possible solution is to allow providers and grantees
to be part of the transition process on military installations.
I believe with this type of collaboration it would
drastically reduce the number of homeless veterans not just in San
Diego County, but nationwide.
The rental rates here in San Diego are high and the
available housing is low which is another barrier for our clients.
A possible solution would be to allow SSVF and Shallow
Subsidy providers to take over run down hotels and motels in undesired
parts of the county and bring in development dollars to turn them into
permanent housing units.
Case Management and wrap-around services would be
available onsite.
It was a great honor to be here today to share our
experiences with the SSVF and Shallow Subsidy programs and some
suggestions on how to improve its efficacy moving forward.
Achieving functional zero for Veteran homelessness is
possible, but we can only do this together and with out of the box
thinking.
I look forward to answering your questions.
Thank you.
______
Prepared Statement of Sean Spear
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Statement for the Record
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Prepared Statement of San Diego Housing Commission
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[all]