OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

Date: June 4, 2024
Location: Washington, DC


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Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chair, all veterans deserve a roof over their heads. Far too many vets in San Diego remain homeless. We have to do more to ensure our veterans and their families have access to quality, affordable housing. The Housing and Urban Development-Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing, known as HUD-VASH program, is a critical tool to address this issue.

Earlier this year, local news in San Diego reported that nearly 35 percent of HUD-VASH vouchers, which San Diego received, went unused. That is not acceptable. We have to do everything we can to ensure veterans are receiving this assistance.

This bipartisan amendment simply encourages local VA systems and public housing authorities to work together to streamline the voucher application process for HUD-VASH vouchers to reduce barriers for veterans seeking housing assistance.

VA San Diego is now taking the initiative by partnering with local housing authorities to better align voucher applications across public housing authority jurisdiction. This partnership provides a critical pathway to connect veterans to housing.

The HUD-VASH program is critical for addressing veteran homelessness in San Diego and throughout the country, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this commonsense amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. PETERS. Mr. Chair, VA's Supportive Services for Veteran Families program and Shallow Subsidy service provides low-income veterans direct assistance to prevent the imminent loss of a veteran's home or to identify a new, more suitable housing situation for them and their families.

Funding for this program goes to every community across the country, and in fiscal year 2024 alone, San Diego organizations received over $17 million to provide these services.

My bipartisan amendment recognizes the important role this program plays in preventing housing insecure veterans from falling into homelessness. It is essential that we preserve this program and we show strong support for this program for those who put on the uniform in defense of our country. Keeping these veterans in their homes not only preserves their safety and security, it also preserves their dignity.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bipartisan amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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