[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11435-11438]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HOMES FOR HEROES ACT OF 2015

  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 251) to transfer the position of Special Assistant for 
Veterans Affairs in the Department of Housing and Urban Development to 
the Office of the Secretary, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 251

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Homes for Heroes Act of 
     2015''.

     SEC. 2. SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS IN THE 
                   DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT.

       (a) Transfer of Position to Office of the Secretary.--
     Section 4 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
     Act (42 U.S.C. 3533) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following new subsection:
       ``(h) Special Assistant for Veterans Affairs.--
       ``(1) Position.--There shall be in the Office of the 
     Secretary a Special Assistant for Veterans Affairs, who shall 
     report directly to the Secretary.
       ``(2) Appointment.--The Special Assistant for Veterans 
     Affairs shall be appointed based solely on merit and shall be 
     covered under the provisions of title 5, United States Code, 
     governing appointments in the competitive service.
       ``(3) Responsibilities.--The Special Assistant for Veterans 
     Affairs shall be responsible for--
       ``(A) ensuring veterans have fair access to housing and 
     homeless assistance under each program of the Department 
     providing either such assistance;
       ``(B) coordinating all programs and activities of the 
     Department relating to veterans;
       ``(C) serving as a liaison for the Department with the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs, including establishing and 
     maintaining relationships with the Secretary of Veterans 
     Affairs;
       ``(D) serving as a liaison for the Department, and 
     establishing and maintaining relationships with the United 
     States Interagency Council on Homelessness and officials of 
     State, local, regional, and nongovernmental organizations 
     concerned with veterans;
       ``(E) providing information and advice regarding--
       ``(i) sponsoring housing projects for veterans assisted 
     under programs administered by the Department; or
       ``(ii) assisting veterans in obtaining housing or homeless 
     assistance under programs administered by the Department;
       ``(F) coordinating with the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
     Development and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in carrying 
     out section 3 of the Homes for Heroes Act of 2015; and
       ``(G) carrying out such other duties as may be assigned to 
     the Special Assistant by the Secretary or by law.''.
       (b) Transfer of Position in Office of Deputy Assistant 
     Secretary for Special Needs.--On the date that the initial 
     Special Assistant for Veterans Affairs is appointed pursuant 
     to section 4(h)(2) of the Department of Housing and Urban 
     Development Act, as added by subsection (a) of this section, 
     the position of Special Assistant for Veterans Programs in 
     the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special 
     Needs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
     shall be terminated.

     SEC. 3. ANNUAL SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT ON VETERANS HOMELESSNESS.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban 
     Development and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in 
     coordination with the United States Interagency Council on 
     Homelessness, shall submit annually to the Committees of the 
     Congress specified in subsection (b), together with the 
     annual reports required by such Secretaries under section 
     203(c)(1) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 
     U.S.C. 11313(c)(1)), a supplemental report that includes the 
     following information with respect to the preceding year:
       (1) The same information, for such preceding year, that was 
     included with respect

[[Page 11436]]

     to 2010 in the report by the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
     Development and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs entitled 
     ``Veterans Homelessness: A Supplemental Report to the 2010 
     Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress''.
       (2) Information regarding the activities of the Department 
     of Housing and Urban Development relating to veterans during 
     such preceding year, as follows:
       (A) The number of veterans provided assistance under the 
     housing choice voucher program for Veterans Affairs supported 
     housing (VASH) under section 8(o)(19) of the United States 
     Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(19)), the 
     socioeconomic characteristics of such homeless veterans, and 
     the number, types, and locations of entities contracted under 
     such section to administer the vouchers.
       (B) A summary description of the special considerations 
     made for veterans under public housing agency plans submitted 
     pursuant to section 5A of the United States Housing Act of 
     1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437c-1) and under comprehensive housing 
     affordability strategies submitted pursuant to section 105 of 
     the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 
     U.S.C. 12705).
       (C) A description of the activities of the Special 
     Assistant for Veterans Affairs of the Department of Housing 
     and Urban Development.
       (D) A description of the efforts of the Department of 
     Housing and Urban Development and the other members of the 
     United States Interagency Council on Homelessness to 
     coordinate the delivery of housing and services to veterans.
       (E) The cost to the Department of Housing and Urban 
     Development of administering the programs and activities 
     relating to veterans.
       (F) Any other information that the Secretary of Housing and 
     Urban Development and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
     consider relevant in assessing the programs and activities of 
     the Department of Housing and Urban Development relating to 
     veterans.
       (b) Committees.--The Committees of the Congress specified 
     in this subsection are as follows:
       (1) The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of 
     the Senate.
       (2) The Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate.
       (3) The Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
       (4) The Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
     Representatives.
       (5) The Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of 
     Representatives.
       (6) The Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Maxine Waters) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Missouri?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 251, the Homes for 
Heroes Act of 2015.
  This bill, introduced by my colleague from Texas, Congressman Al 
Green, would establish the position of special assistant for Veterans 
Affairs within HUD to coordinate services provided to homeless veterans 
and to serve as HUD's liaison to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 
the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, State and local 
officials, and nonprofit service organizations. The position is 
currently in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special 
Needs. This transfer highlights the importance of this issue.
  H.R. 251 would also require HUD to submit a comprehensive annual 
report to Congress on the housing needs of homeless veterans and the 
steps undertaken by HUD to meet these needs.
  Previous iterations of H.R. 251 have garnered broad support in the 
past. In 2013, the bill passed by a vote of 420-3; in 2012, by a vote 
of 414-5; in 2009, by a vote of 417-2; and in 2008, by a vote of 412-9.
  Our servicemen and -women continue to bravely serve our country both 
here and abroad. The least we can do is ensure they have proper access 
to the services offered to them. This bill represents a step in that 
direction.
  I urge my colleagues to again support this worthy endeavor.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  I would like to thank my colleague and friend, Mr. Green, for 
introducing this important bill, the Homes for Heroes Act of 2015.
  This bill aims to help prevent low-income veteran families from 
falling into homelessness, while also providing relief for those who 
are currently homeless. This bill achieves these aims by elevating a 
position at HUD aimed specifically at coordinating efforts to ensure 
that all Federal agencies working to house our homeless veterans are 
working together at maximum capacity. This position will work closely 
with the HUD Secretary to achieve these outcomes.
  The Homes for Heroes Act will also ensure the long-term coordination 
of services for homeless veterans by requiring HUD to submit a 
comprehensive annual report to Congress on the housing needs of 
homeless veterans.
  This bill will help ensure that we continue to make progress on the 
goal of ending veteran homelessness so that we can ensure that every 
veteran has a roof over their head. Recent efforts to house our 
homeless veterans have seen bipartisan support in both the House and 
Senate in the form of supporting robust funding for the HUD-Veterans 
Affairs Supportive Housing program, also known as HUD-VASH. This bill 
should be no different.
  Our veterans have been at the forefront of protecting this country, 
and we have an obligation here in Congress to protect and provide for 
those who are most vulnerable. No person in the country should be 
deprived of a safe, decent, and affordable place to call home. No 
person should be deprived of a roof over their head. This bill would 
help to ensure that we are taking care of those who have taken care of 
this country.
  In addition, this bill is supported by the National Alliance to End 
Homelessness, a national advocacy organization committed to preventing 
and ending homelessness in the United States.
  An identical bill passed the House last Congress. I urge my 
colleagues to again pass this important piece of legislation.
  I want to thank Mr. Green for his persistence in bringing forth this 
legislation. It is another wonderful moment for him.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Guinta).

                              {time}  1300

  Mr. GUINTA. Mr. Speaker, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 
Development estimates that almost 50,000 veterans are homeless on any 
given night. That means that right now there are roughly 50,000 of our 
Nation's heroes on the streets, without shelter, struggling to find a 
place to live.
  This is not how our country should treat the men and women who have 
risked their lives to protect our Nation. The issue of homeless 
veterans needs to be addressed and resolved, and it needs to be done 
now.
  It has always been a priority of mine to eliminate veterans 
homelessness not just in my home State of New Hampshire, but all across 
this great Nation. I think my colleagues will all agree with me that we 
must ensure our veterans and their families have access to affordable 
housing in order to help promote their independence and well-being.
  When I was mayor of New Hampshire's largest city, Manchester, I 
launched a homeless veterans initiative by working with leaders at 
Liberty House, a safe, supportive, and substance-free housing community 
for those transitioning out of homelessness.
  Our veterans deserve equal treatment and access to HUD housing and 
homeless assistance programs. We can start now by cutting down the 
bureaucracy, bureaucratic hurdles, and by ensuring that the highest 
care is given to our

[[Page 11437]]

veterans. This bipartisan bill is a step in the right direction.
  I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green) for fighting on 
behalf of homeless veterans. I am proud to rise in support of our 
Nation's heroes, and I am proud to support H.R. 251.
  Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he 
may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green), the ranking 
member of the Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigations of the 
Financial Services Committee.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. I thank the ranking member very much.
  Mr. Speaker, I am so honored to stand on the floor with the 
gentlewoman. Her reputation for supporting the needs of the homeless 
across the length and breadth of our country is widely known and 
greatly appreciated and, quite frankly, celebrated.
  She has been there for the homeless, she has spoken up in committee, 
and she has passed legislation to assist. So it does not surprise me 
that she would be supportive of this legislation.
  While it does not surprise me, I still must say that I am greatly 
appreciative for her support because her support makes a difference in 
legislation moving forward from our committee.
  I am also honored to thank the chair of the committee, Mr. 
Hensarling, who, without question, reservation, or hesitation, 
immediately concluded that this legislation should have an opportunity 
to be voted upon. He has been a supporter of the legislation in the 
past, and I thank him for his current support.
  Mr. Luetkemeyer has been supportive of the legislation, and I thank 
him for his willingness to allow it to come to the floor as quickly as 
it has. Sometimes it can take a little longer than we would like in 
getting legislation to the floor, but the gentleman immediately 
responded, and this legislation has made its way to the floor.
  I also would like to thank the gentleman from New Hampshire, who 
spoke very eloquently about the needs of veterans. It means a lot to me 
to know that we have the breadth of support in the House of 
Representatives that we have.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that it is almost sinful for us in the richest 
country in the world to pass veterans who are living in the streets of 
life, holding signs indicating that they are homeless and that they 
need help. I believe that the richest country in the world can afford 
to provide for those who return home and are homeless.
  I think that, when a person signs up to serve in the military, you do 
not know where that assignment will take you. It could very well mean 
that you will go to some distant place or it could mean that you will 
stay right here within the continental United States.
  But when you sign up, you sign up to go wherever you are told and to 
do whatever is required, and a good many of those who sign up and go 
and do what is required don't always return home the same way they 
left.
  As a result, we see not only veterans on the streets asking for help, 
but you see veterans who are sometimes without all of their body parts. 
It is especially painful when you see a person who has served the 
country and who may be in a wheelchair now who is asking for assistance 
on a street corner.
  I am proud to thank the Obama administration for the work that has 
been done to eradicate homelessness among our veterans. In Houston, 
Texas, we had a meeting with the HUD Secretary and others.
  At that meeting, our mayor announced that we were ending homelessness 
in Houston, Texas, in the sense that a person who needs help could find 
help if one is a veteran in Houston, Texas. That means a lot to me to 
know that my hometown city is now moving forward and is helping those 
who are living in the streets of life.
  This piece of legislation, H.R. 251, makes permanent what is already 
taking place. There is a person who is there to look out for veterans 
in HUD, but we want to make sure that that person is there permanently. 
That is what this legislation does.
  You have heard about the reports that will have to be submitted. It 
is exceedingly important that we know how many people are homeless in 
the veterans population, and it is exceedingly important to know what 
it costs to house and to take care of them. These are the kinds of 
things that the report will reveal to all who wish to know.
  It is also important for us to understand that this is not an effort 
that we can end, because we are making progress. Progress is important, 
but to continue the progress and to completely eradicate this 
homelessness, we have to have people who are there, acting as 
sentinels, as watchmen, for those who have served us well. That is what 
this person will do who will be stationed in HUD.
  For further edification about the situation in terms of homelessness 
among the veterans population, let me share the statistical information 
with you:
  In January of 2014, the demographics indicated that, on any given 
night, as was indicated, about 50,000 veterans--49,933--were homeless.
  Let's talk about the people themselves and not allow them to become 
numbers. Here is what the statistical information further reveals: 12 
percent of the homeless adult population are veterans.
  It reveals that 20 percent of the male homeless population are 
veterans. It reveals that 51 percent of individual homeless veterans 
had disabilities, 51 percent who need our help, 51 percent who will 
benefit from having a person whose job it is to monitor and to make 
sure that they are taken care of.
  Further, it would reveal that 70 percent have substance abuse 
problems, which is something that we really don't like to talk about. 
We know that it exists, and we know that something can be done about 
it, but you need someone who is there as a sentinel, as a watchman, to 
make sure that these needs are taken care of.
  Many of them developed their substance abuse problems while in the 
military, while serving the country. That is unfortunate, but it is a 
fact. What we want to do is to make sure that we take care of all of 
them.
  I am so honored to say to you that this bill has received great 
bipartisan support in the past, overwhelmingly so, I might add.
  I also want to just thank my colleagues by reminding us of Ruth 
Smeltzer's words:

       Some measure their lives by days and years, others by 
     heartthrobs, passions, and tears; but the surest measure 
     under the God's Sun is what for others in your lifetime have 
     you done.

  I want to thank all who are going to do what they can to help 
eliminate homelessness among the veterans population and those who will 
support this piece of legislation. Hopefully, we will get it passed in 
the Senate such that we won't next term find ourselves supporting this 
same legislation.
  I thank the ranking member again so much for her many years of 
service and for her support for this legislation as well as for the 
many years of support that she has accorded those who have lived in the 
streets of life.
  God bless her, and God bless our country.
  Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional 
speakers.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, in closing, just to reiterate and, 
again, congratulate and associate our remarks with the fine gentleman's 
from Texas (Mr. Al Green), one can see that his hard work and advocacy 
and his passion for this issue is unparalleled. We certainly want to 
continue to support him, and we urge the support of this body for his 
fine bill here, H.R. 251.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support to H.R. 251, the 
``Homes for Heroes Act of 2015,'' which would amend the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development Act to establish in the Office of the 
Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) a 
Special Assistant for Veterans Affairs.
  Our military veterans deserve our deepest gratitude for the courage 
and valor they demonstrated in service while defending the United 
States of America.
  I support this bill strongly because it ensure veterans fair access 
to HUD housing and

[[Page 11438]]

homeless assistance programs, coordinates all HUD programs and 
activities relating to veterans, and betters serves as a HUD liaison 
with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
  Also, terminating the position of Special Assistant for Veterans 
Programs in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special 
Needs would create more coordinated relations that will better serve 
the needs of our nation's veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, today, in our country, there are approximately 107,000 
veterans (male and female) who are homeless on any given night.
  And perhaps twice as many (200,000) experience homelessness at some 
point during the course of a year.
  Many other veterans are considered near homeless or at risk because 
of their poverty, lack of support from family and friends, and dismal 
living conditions in cheap hotels or in overcrowded or substandard 
housing.
  In my hometown of Houston for example, between the years 2010 and 
2012, the number of homeless veterans increased from 771 to 1,162.
  President Obama and the Congress made a commitment to end 
homelessness by 2015.
  However, even with all the progress this administration has made, 
until we have every veteran permanently sheltered in the United States, 
we have not succeeded.
  I have always devoted myself in these efforts, as I know of the kind 
of impact assisting our heroes to get back on their feet can have on 
the well-being of our communities.
  H.R. 251, the ``Homes for Heroes Act of 2015,'' is a positive step 
towards the right direction in our effort to support our nation's 
heroes, who have put their lives on the line for our protection.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot let this issue of homelessness continue.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in voting in support of H.R. 251.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Carter of Georgia). The question is on 
the motion offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer) 
that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 251.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________