Smucker and Carbajal Introduce Bipartisan Home for the Brave Act

Statement

U.S. Reps. Lloyd Smucker (PA-16) and Salud Carbajal (CA-24) today introduced bipartisan legislation to assist in the fight against veteran homelessness. The Home for the Brave Act would exempt disability benefits from counting as income when determining eligibility for housing assistance programs through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

"Our veterans have put their lives at great risk to keep all of us safe back home. To return home and be priced out of housing assistance simply because they receive service-related disability benefits is just plain wrong," said Rep. Smucker. "Our district has made great strides to eliminate veteran homelessness, and I am proud to stand with my constituents in this noble effort. I want to thank Rep. Carbajal for his work on behalf of our nation's veterans and their families and look forward to working together to get this legislation passed."

"It is wrong to deny veterans access to housing assistance programs for benefits they receive for service-related injury or illness," said Rep. Carbajal. "I am glad to work across the aisle to assist our homeless veterans on the Central Coast and across the country ahead of Veterans' Day. They stepped up to defend our national security and Congress must step up for them to fix this egregious penalty against our disabled veterans."

Background

Financial benefits for service-connected disabilities are currently counted as income when determining eligibility for housing assistance programs through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As a result, many veterans are determined ineligible for these housing programs because their disability benefits are placing them at a higher income level. Other agencies, including the International Revenue Service (IRS), does not consider veterans benefits for service-connected disabilities income.

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