Veteran Housing Opportunities and Unemployment Support Extension Act of 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2398. I want to thank my friend, Mr. Peters from California, for his work on this legislation and my colleague on the House Financial Services Committee, Mr. Stivers of Ohio. We love working together to benefit our veterans in the Veterans' Affairs Committee and the House Financial Services Committee.

As our chairwoman simply said, Congress should not rest until every homeless veteran has a roof over his or her head. Despite all of our efforts and all the leadership we have contributed for 3 decades, it is still shocking to hear Ms. Waters say that 37,000 veterans are reported homeless on any given night in our country.

The idea of partnership between the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs dates back to the 1990s. It was a pleasure to serve then for President George H. W. Bush and to work with Secretary Jack Kemp at HUD when the partnership was envisioned. Jack Kemp of New York and of Vice Presidential candidate fame was a strong Member of this House and someone who worked hard for communities all over this country, particularly for communities that are struggling to make sure they have access to a better future. Jack Kemp demonstrated a lot of leadership in outlining this partnership between the VA and HUD for housing vouchers dedicated to homeless veterans.

We combined that with the VA case management services to provide healthcare, mental health treatment, substance abuse counseling, job placement, and more. We know this works. This is why so many of us speak out so passionately about shared services and comprehensive case management for our homeless. We know that all of that is important for them to have a better future.

I work with the Veterans' Affairs homeless coordinator in Little Rock, Arkansas, on a regular basis, Estella Morris, and I have seen her work so successfully within this program to benefit constituents in my hometown of Little Rock.

This partnership on a national basis has proven to be very successful in all the States of our land, awarding almost 100,000 vouchers over the past 10 years to those who have honorably served their country. H.R. 2398 would build on that success by requiring annual reporting from the VA to disclose demographic information and how these vouchers are distributed. With several communities around the country having made great strides to effectively end veteran homelessness, it is crucial that we use this information to better target the HUD-VASH voucher program in those communities that need them the most.

The bill would also expand the eligibility for the program, as Chairwoman Waters described, to veterans who were discharged other than honorably, helping that vulnerable population have access to this crucial resource.

Since 2010, the number of homeless veterans has been cut in half. This Congress has made it a priority and the Obama administration and the Trump administration have made this a priority. These are positive signs, but there is more to do and this bill will help achieve the goal of ending veterans' homelessness.

I, again, would like to thank Mr. Stivers, the ranking member of the Housing, Community Development and Insurance Subcommittee in the House and a cosponsor of the bill for his leadership on the issue and in working with Mr. Peters.

Madam Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, this is a good bill. This is a bill that will help move more people to shelter, particularly our veterans, who are so in need.

When I think about Jack Kemp and his inspiration for this so many years ago, he frequently quoted Theodore Roosevelt's great quote, which was: ``Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.''

Certainly, that is apropos here because Mr. Peters and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the members, both Republicans and Democrats, on the House Financial Services Committee care about solving this crisis. We care about working with our local partners to make our communities a better place.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Stivers for his work and my friend Mr. Peters. I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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