[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 71 (Wednesday, June 7, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5601-S5602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. OBAMA:
  S. 3475. A bill to provide housing assistance for very low-income 
veterans; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Homes for 
Heroes Act of 2006.
  When we talk about veterans in Washington, I often think about my 
grandfather, who signed up for duty in World War II the day after Pearl 
Harbor. He marched across Europe in Patton's army, and when he came 
home to Kansas, he could have very easily faced some tough times.
  He could have had trouble paying for college, or finding a job, or 
even finding a home. But at the time, he lived in a country that 
recognized the value of his service--a country that kept its promise to 
defend those who have defended freedom. And so he was able to afford 
college through the G.I. Bill, and he was able to buy a house through 
the Federal Housing Administration, and he was able to work hard and 
raise a family and build his own American dream.
  And after I think about my grandfather, and the opportunities he had 
as

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a veteran, I then think about a veteran I met named Bill Allen, who 
told me that on a recent trip he took to Chicago, he actually saw 
homeless veterans fighting over access to the dumpsters. Think about 
that. Fighting over access to the dumpsters.
  Each and every night in this country, more than 200,000 of our 
Nation's veterans are homeless. And more than half a million will 
experience homelessness over the course of a year. There is no single 
cause for this. Homeless vets are men and women, single and married. 
They have served in every conflict since World War II. Many suffer from 
post-traumatic stress disorder; others were physically and mentally 
battered in combat. A large number left the military without job skills 
that could be easily used in the private sector.
  All have risked their lives for their country. All deserve--at the 
very least--the basic dignity of going to sleep at night with a roof 
over their head. And every day we allow them to go without, it brings 
shame to every single one of us.
  This is wrong. It is because we're quick to offer words of praise for 
our troops when they were abroad, but quick to forget about their needs 
when they come home. It's wrong because we have the resources and the 
programs in place to help solve this problem. And it is wrong on a 
fundamentally moral level--the idea that we would allow such brave and 
selfless citizens to suffer in such biting poverty. And so it is now 
our responsibility--it is now our duty--to make this right.
  Last year, I introduced the Sheltering All Veterans Everywhere Act, 
S. 1180--the SAVE Act--to strengthen services for homeless veterans. 
The SAVE Act would reauthorize and expand two of the most successful 
programs in dealing with homeless veterans: the Homeless Providers 
Grant and Per Diem Program and the Homeless Veterans Reintegration 
Program. In addition, the SAVE Act would expand the reach of the 
Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program to also include veterans at 
risk of homelessness, so that we can work to prevent homelessness 
before it happens.
  And while it is one thing to get veterans off the streets 
temporarily; it is another to keep them off--to place veterans in real, 
permanent homes. In fact, the VA has consistently identified permanent 
housing as one of the top three unmet needs in the fight against 
veteran homelessness.
  That is why I'm introducing a bill today called the Homes for Heroes 
Act. This is a bill that would help expand access to long-term, 
affordable housing by creating a fund so that the community and 
nonprofit organizations could purchase, build, or rehabilitate homes 
and apartments for veterans.
  So that we don't just leave them, to face their personal challenges 
on their own, the organizations would also provide services like 
counseling, employment training, and child care to the veterans who 
live in this housing. And the Homes for Heroes Act would expand the 
number of permanent housing vouchers for veterans from the current 
number of less than 2,000 to 20,000. These are vouchers that have been 
highly successful in giving veterans the chance to afford a place to 
live.
  Every day in America, we walk past men and women on street comers 
with handwritten signs that say ``Homeless Veteran--Will Work For 
Food.'' Sometimes we give a dollar; sometimes we just keep walking. 
These are soldiers who fought in World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq. They 
made a commitment to their country when they chose to serve--and now we 
must keep our commitment to them. Because when we make the decision to 
send our troops to war, we also make the decision to care for them, to 
speak for them, and to think of them--always--when they come home.
  This kind of America--an America of opportunity, of collective 
responsibility for each other--is the kind that any of our parents and 
grandparents came home to after the Second World War. Now it is time 
for us to build this America for those sons and daughters who come home 
today.
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