Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Programs Reauthorization Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4451, the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Programs Reauthorization Act.

I thank the gentleman from Ohio, the chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Health Subcommittee, for partnering with me to introduce this important legislation.

Our Nation's servicemembers undertake enormous sacrifices every day to keep us safe, and we must ensure they can smoothly transition back into civilian life when they come home. Unfortunately, however, too many of our returning servicemembers are struggling with homelessness.

In 2017, HUD's annual survey found that veteran homelessness increased by 1.5 percent after years of declining percentages. Los Angeles County, which I represent a part of, saw a 57 percent increase in the number of homeless veterans just in the past year.

While our local partners are committed to working together with the VA and other Federal agencies to ensure all veterans have access to safe and affordable housing, clearly, we need to be using every tool in our toolbox to end veteran homelessness completely. That means supporting both the housing programs and wraparound services necessary to heal and to house our veterans.

Today's legislation will allow veterans who have struggled with homelessness to remain eligible for job services while utilizing VA housing programs. This will help more veterans break the cycle of homelessness, support themselves and their families, and get back on their feet.

Again, I thank the chairman for championing this issue together, and the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans for highlighting this problem in testimony before the committee, and for their support of the bill.

I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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