[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 122 (Thursday, July 30, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6182-S6183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 VETERAN HOUSING STABILITY ACT OF 2015

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, yesterday, as ranking member of the 
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I introduced S. 1885, the 
Veteran Housing Stability Act of 2015. I would like to thank Senators 
Sanders, Brown, and Hirono for joining me to introduce this bill, and 
the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and the National Alliance 
to End Homelessness for their support of this legislation. At a time 
when the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, has taken on an aggressive 
initiative to end homelessness among veterans by the end of 2015, much 
progress has been made yet there is still more progress needed.
  The VA initiative has led to a 33 percent decrease in the homeless 
veteran population since 2010. These declining numbers are a reflection 
of the combined efforts of VA and its Federal, State, local, tribal, 
and community partners as they continue aggressive efforts to decrease 
veteran homelessness and implement a system through which veterans who 
become homeless can be rapidly placed in appropriate housing situations 
that meet their needs. The statistics are staggering--49,000 veterans 
are homeless in America today, 1 in 10 of all homeless men and women--a 
searing failure in the greatest, strongest Nation in the world's 
history. It reflects a failure to keep faith that this legislation will 
help correct. We cannot allow another veteran to slip through the 
cracks. We must give communities the flexibility and tools they need to 
create housing systems that can maximize existing resources 
collaboratively in order to identify and sustain appropriate housing 
placements for vulnerable veterans.
  The legislation would reaffirm this Nation's commitment to safe and 
affordable housing for veterans by improving and expanding upon VA's 
programs to prevent and end homelessness among veterans. VA's housing 
programs for homeless and at-risk veterans must modernize to ensure 
that they are meeting the needs of the very veterans they are intended 
to serve. One of the challenges many identify as causing difficulty is 
one that mainstream housing programs also struggle with--insufficient 
availability of safe, affordable, permanent housing options.
  This measure will address the egregious, abhorrent problem of veteran 
homelessness with several common-sense, effective steps to increase 
housing for homeless and at-risk veterans. The Homeless Veterans 
Prevention Act of 2015 would expand access to housing by requiring VA 
to collaborate with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 
and other entities to conduct more robust landlord outreach and 
encourage more landlords to rent to veterans.
  Further, this bill would modify a VA program that provides critical 
savings to transitional housing providers, allowing these groups to 
spend limited funding to provide high-quality services rather than to 
retire the debt they would take on to acquire a facility in which to 
operate. VBA's Acquired Property Sales for Homeless Providers Program 
sells homes from VA's foreclosure inventory at a discount to nonprofit 
organizations for use as transitional housing for homeless veterans. As 
VA continues to shift its homeless programs into an approach that meets 
veterans at their point of need, rather than choosing a one-size-fits-
all solution, more services are being provided under the housing-first 
model, which pairs housing with appropriate levels of case management. 
This pairing allows veterans to deal with the underlying issues that 
caused homelessness, rather than attempting to work through them while 
simultaneously looking for housing. It is critical that programs that 
offer more than transitional housing be

[[Page S6183]]

allowed to benefit from this discount as well.
  As VA focuses on resolving homelessness, instead of just managing it, 
housing stability is increasingly a focus across the continuum of 
programs VA offers to eligible veterans. This bill will also modify 
VA's Grant and Per Diem Program, its largest transitional housing 
program, to allow VA to incentivize grantees to increase their focus on 
permanent housing and housing stability in support of the transitional 
housing program. More specifically, this bill provides VA with much 
needed authority to allow transitional housing providers to utilize 
their facility for permanent housing, and to receive a reduced per diem 
payment to provide case management for participating veterans. This 
would allow communities that are reaching critical junctures in the 
fight to end homelessness to repurpose existing transitional housing 
capacity for more pressing needs, such as permanent housing 
opportunities for veterans.
  As many initiatives across VA have faced performance challenges, it 
is paramount that we continue to examine all VA initiatives and 
identify metrics that can be tracked to keep the Department 
accountable. This legislation includes a provision that would require 
VA to set national performance targets for entities that receive per 
diem funding for transitional housing and examine them to determine 
whether the grantee's performance merits continued funding. Further, 
this bill also contains a provision that would prompt VA to utilize the 
data it collects to better target interventions offered by its 
assertive community teams engaging homeless veterans on the street. 
Requiring a more targeted effort focused on homeless veterans who are 
health care ``super-utilizers'' will reduce unnecessary utilization of 
health care and, subsequently the costs for care.
  Research has indicated that housing can be an effective health care 
intervention when paired with appropriate services and resources. At 
its very simplest, homelessness among veterans is preventable when 
there is coordination among the many services and resources available 
to lift a veteran up. We cannot sit by idly and allow another veteran 
to slip through the cracks. We must reach out and let them know when, 
where, and how to get the help that they need and that they have 
earned.
  This is not a full recitation of all the provisions within this 
legislation. However, I hope that I have provided an appropriate 
overview of the major benefits this legislation would provide.

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