..................................................................... (Original Signature of Member)
118TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. ll
To amend title 38, United States Code, and the United States Housing Act of 1937, to make certain improvements to the supported housing program for veterans commonly known as ‘‘HUD–VASH’’.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Ml. llllll introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on llllllllllllll
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, and the United
States Housing Act of 1937, to make certain improve-
ments to the supported housing program for veterans
commonly known as ‘‘HUD–VASH’’.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End Veteran Home-4
lessness Act of 2024’’. 5
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2 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF STAFFING NEEDS FOR CASE 1
MANAGERS OF THE VETERANS HEALTH AD-2
MINISTRATION WITH REGARDS TO HOME-3
LESS VETERANS AND VETERANS AT RISK OF 4
HOMELESSNESS. 5
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 2003(b) of title 38, 6
United States Code, is amended— 7
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘The Secretary’’; 8
(2) by inserting ‘‘, and who is determined to re-9
quire case management,’’ before ‘‘is assigned’’; and 10 (3) by adding at the end the following new 11
paragraph: 12
‘‘(2) In assigning case managers and providing serv-13
ices under this subsection, the Secretary shall prioritize 14 vulnerable homeless veterans, including veterans who are 15 homeless and who have disabilities (including chronic men-16 tal illness, chronic substance abuse disorders, or chronic 17 physical disabilities).’’. 18
(b) A NNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary of Veterans 19
Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Housing and 20 Urban Development, shall submit to Congress an annual 21 report on the program under section 8(o)(19) of the 22
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 23
1437f(o)(19)), as amended by section 3 of this Act and 24 commonly known as the ‘‘HUD-VASH program’’, which 25
shall include, for the year covered by the report, each of 26 VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:41 Feb 29, 2024 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\KRCOX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETA L\11.0\GEN\C\END_VET_HO February 29, 2024 (10:41 a.m.)
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3 the following, disaggregated by locality and by demo-1 graphics (if the Secretary of Veterans Affairs determines 2 it appropriate): 3
(1) An identification of the number and demo-4
graphic characteristics of veterans served by the 5
HUD-VASH program. 6
(2) The number, qualifications, and demo-7
graphics of case managers described in section 8
2003(b) of title 38, United States Code, as amended 9
by subsection (a). 10
(3) An assessment of the standard and scope of 11
care provided by such case managers to such vet-12
erans, including factors such as— 13
(A) staffing ratios; 14
(B) practices used in case management; 15
(C) frequency with which a case manager 16
contacts a veteran; 17
(D) whether a case manager successfully 18
connects a veteran to a requested resource or 19
support; and 20
(E) professional licenses or certifications 21
possessed by case managers. 22
(4) An assessment of the types of services pro-23
vided by such case managers to such veterans. 24
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4 (5) With regard to vouchers made available 1
under the HUD-VASH program— 2
(A) the number requested; 3
(B) the number allocated; 4
(C) the number used; 5
(D) the number assigned but unused; and 6
(E) the average time between such assig-7
nation and such use. 8
(6) The percentage of such veterans who used 9
such a voucher and received case management from 10
such a case manager. 11
(7) An identification of barriers that prevented 12
the use of such vouchers by such veterans. 13
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO HUD-VASH PROGRAM. 14
Section 8(o)(19) of the United States Housing Act 15
of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(19)) is amended— 16
(1) in subparagraph (A)— 17
(A) in the first sentence— 18
(i) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (C)’’ 19
and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’; and 20
(ii) by striking ‘‘the amounts specified 21
in subparagraph (B)’’ and inserting 22
‘‘amounts’’; 23
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5 (B) by striking the second sentence and in-1
serting ‘‘In the course of administering such 2
program—’’; and 3
(C) by adding at the end the following new 4
clauses: 5
‘‘(i) the Secretary shall provide rental 6
assistance on behalf of a veteran who is— 7
‘‘(I) homeless; 8
‘‘(II) at risk of homelessness; or 9
‘‘(III) receiving assistance under 10
another housing assistance program if 11
the Secretary determines a voucher 12
under this paragraph is a more appro-13
priate form of assistance for such vet-14
eran; 15
‘‘(ii) subject to subparagraph (D), the 16
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall furnish 17
case management to a veteran described in 18
clause (i) whom such Secretary (acting 19
through an appropriately licensed or other-20
wise qualified employee of the Department 21
of Veterans Affairs or an entity that par-22
ticipates in a centralized or coordinated 23
entry system (as defined in section 578.3 24
of title 24, Code of Federal Regulations, or 25
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6 successor regulation) of the Department of 1
Housing and Urban Development) deter-2
mines requires case management; 3
‘‘(iii) in the case of a veteran de-4
scribed in clause (ii) who refuses case man-5
agement— 6
‘‘(I) the Secretary of Veterans 7
Affairs shall— 8
‘‘(aa) make recurring at-9
tempts to engage and build a re-10
lationship with the veteran, in 11
order to provide such case man-12
agement to the veteran, solicit 13
feedback from the veteran, and 14
promote the veteran’s housing 15
stability and opportunities to ac-16
cess health care and other bene-17
fits under laws administered by 18
the Secretary; and 19
‘‘(bb) provide case manage-20
ment to such veteran if the vet-21
eran subsequently requests case 22
management; 23
‘‘(II) the Secretary of Housing 24
and Urban Development may not re-25
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7 voke such rental assistance on behalf 1
of the veteran solely on the basis of 2
such refusal; 3
‘‘(III) a public housing authority 4
may not revoke rental assistance pro-5
vided by such authority on behalf of 6
the veteran solely on the basis of such 7
refusal; and 8
‘‘(IV) the owner may not evict or 9
otherwise penalize the veteran solely 10
on the basis of such refusal; and 11
‘‘(iv) in the case of a veteran de-12
scribed in clause (ii) whose case manage-13
ment is suspended for the health and safe-14
ty of the veteran or the case manager, the 15
owner may not evict or otherwise penalize 16
the veteran solely on the basis of such sus-17
pension.’’; 18
(2) by striking subparagraph (B); 19
(3) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and 20
(D) as subparagraphs (B) and (E), respectively; 21
(4) by inserting after subparagraph (B), as re-22
designated the following new subparagraphs: 23
‘‘(C) VETERANS WHO DO NOT REQUIRE 24
CASE MANAGEMENT .—A voucher made available 25
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8 under this paragraph may be used for a home-1
less veteran, or a veteran at risk of homeless-2
ness, whom the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 3
determines does not require case management if 4
such use is included in the notice of operating 5
requirements of such program. 6
‘‘(D) ADMINISTRATIVE FEES .—There is 7
authorized to be appropriated such sums as 8
may be necessary for administrative fee pay-9
ments to public housing agencies for costs of 10
administering vouchers under this paragraph 11
and other eligible expenses, as shall be defined 12
by notice issued by the Secretary, to facilitate 13
the leasing of the vouchers, such as security de-14
posit assistance and other costs related to re-15
tention and support of participating owners.’’. 16
SEC. 4. GAO REPORT ON HOMELESS VETERANS. 17
(a) R EPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 18
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comp-19 troller General of the United States shall submit to the 20 appropriate congressional committees a report containing 21 the following, disaggregated by demographics (if the 22 Comptroller General determines it appropriate)— 23
(1) a description of the demographic character-24
istics of veterans served by the HUD-VASH pro-25
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9 gram, disaggregated by whether the veteran is re-1
ceiving services from a case manager described in 2
section 2003(b) of title 38, United States Code, as 3
amended by section 2 of this Act; 4
(2) the number, qualifications, and demographic 5
characteristics of such case managers; 6
(3) an assessment of the types and quality of 7
case management services provided to veterans by 8
case managers described in section 2003(b) of title 9
38, United States Code, as amended by section 2, 10
disaggregated by locality; 11
(4) an assessment of recruitment and retention 12
of such case managers, disaggregated by locality and 13 demographic characteristics; and 14
(5) metrics regarding housing stability and re-15
tention for veterans participating in Federal housing 16 assistance programs, including veterans who have 17
participated in more than one such program and 18
reasons why veterans ceased to so participate. 19
(b) A PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES 20
DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con-21 gressional committees’’ means the following: 22
(1) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 23
House of Representatives. 24
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10 (2) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 1
Senate. 2
(3) The Committee on Financial Services of the 3
House of Representatives. 4
(4) The Committee on Banking, Housing, and 5
Urban Affairs of the Senate. 6
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