Homes for Heroes Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. I thank the ranking member very much.

Mr. Speaker, I am so honored to stand on the floor with the gentlewoman. Her reputation for supporting the needs of the homeless across the length and breadth of our country is widely known and greatly appreciated and, quite frankly, celebrated.

She has been there for the homeless, she has spoken up in committee, and she has passed legislation to assist. So it does not surprise me that she would be supportive of this legislation.

While it does not surprise me, I still must say that I am greatly appreciative for her support because her support makes a difference in legislation moving forward from our committee.

I am also honored to thank the chair of the committee, Mr. Hensarling, who, without question, reservation, or hesitation, immediately concluded that this legislation should have an opportunity to be voted upon. He has been a supporter of the legislation in the past, and I thank him for his current support.

Mr. Luetkemeyer has been supportive of the legislation, and I thank him for his willingness to allow it to come to the floor as quickly as it has. Sometimes it can take a little longer than we would like in getting legislation to the floor, but the gentleman immediately responded, and this legislation has made its way to the floor.

I also would like to thank the gentleman from New Hampshire, who spoke very eloquently about the needs of veterans. It means a lot to me to know that we have the breadth of support in the House of Representatives that we have.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that it is almost sinful for us in the richest country in the world to pass veterans who are living in the streets of life, holding signs indicating that they are homeless and that they need help. I believe that the richest country in the world can afford to provide for those who return home and are homeless.

I think that, when a person signs up to serve in the military, you do not know where that assignment will take you. It could very well mean that you will go to some distant place or it could mean that you will stay right here within the continental United States.

But when you sign up, you sign up to go wherever you are told and to do whatever is required, and a good many of those who sign up and go and do what is required don't always return home the same way they left.

As a result, we see not only veterans on the streets asking for help, but you see veterans who are sometimes without all of their body parts. It is especially painful when you see a person who has served the country and who may be in a wheelchair now who is asking for assistance on a street corner.

I am proud to thank the Obama administration for the work that has been done to eradicate homelessness among our veterans. In Houston, Texas, we had a meeting with the HUD Secretary and others.

At that meeting, our mayor announced that we were ending homelessness in Houston, Texas, in the sense that a person who needs help could find help if one is a veteran in Houston, Texas. That means a lot to me to know that my hometown city is now moving forward and is helping those who are living in the streets of life.

This piece of legislation, H.R. 251, makes permanent what is already taking place. There is a person who is there to look out for veterans in HUD, but we want to make sure that that person is there permanently. That is what this legislation does.

You have heard about the reports that will have to be submitted. It is exceedingly important that we know how many people are homeless in the veterans population, and it is exceedingly important to know what it costs to house and to take care of them. These are the kinds of things that the report will reveal to all who wish to know.

It is also important for us to understand that this is not an effort that we can end, because we are making progress. Progress is important, but to continue the progress and to completely eradicate this homelessness, we have to have people who are there, acting as

sentinels, as watchmen, for those who have served us well. That is what this person will do who will be stationed in HUD.

For further edification about the situation in terms of homelessness among the veterans population, let me share the statistical information with you:

In January of 2014, the demographics indicated that, on any given night, as was indicated, about 50,000 veterans--49,933--were homeless.

Let's talk about the people themselves and not allow them to become numbers. Here is what the statistical information further reveals: 12 percent of the homeless adult population are veterans.

It reveals that 20 percent of the male homeless population are veterans. It reveals that 51 percent of individual homeless veterans had disabilities, 51 percent who need our help, 51 percent who will benefit from having a person whose job it is to monitor and to make sure that they are taken care of.

Further, it would reveal that 70 percent have substance abuse problems, which is something that we really don't like to talk about. We know that it exists, and we know that something can be done about it, but you need someone who is there as a sentinel, as a watchman, to make sure that these needs are taken care of.

Many of them developed their substance abuse problems while in the military, while serving the country. That is unfortunate, but it is a fact. What we want to do is to make sure that we take care of all of them.

I am so honored to say to you that this bill has received great bipartisan support in the past, overwhelmingly so, I might add.

I also want to just thank my colleagues by reminding us of Ruth Smeltzer's words:

Some measure their lives by days and years, others by heartthrobs, passions, and tears; but the surest measure under the God's Sun is what for others in your lifetime have you done.

I want to thank all who are going to do what they can to help eliminate homelessness among the veterans population and those who will support this piece of legislation. Hopefully, we will get it passed in the Senate such that we won't next term find ourselves supporting this same legislation.

I thank the ranking member again so much for her many years of service and for her support for this legislation as well as for the many years of support that she has accorded those who have lived in the streets of life.

God bless her, and God bless our country.

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