Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is urging his colleagues to pass legislation that would give homeless veterans more housing.
According to Schumer, too many of New York state’s veterans do not have access to the support they need, especially those who are homeless.
The Veteran Housing Stability Act was introduced in late July by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., along with Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii. But Schumer told reporters this week he wants to find a way to move it along in the upper chamber.
“We owe it to our veterans to ensure they can find affordable, safe housing and stay off the streets after protecting the many freedoms we know and cherish,” Schumer said.
The legislation would encourage landlords to rent to veterans, ramp up programs that research the causes of veteran homelessness, and expand the Department of Veteran Affairs housing assistance program, among other things.
But veterans’ homelessness is not just a New York issue.
As cities continue to make strides in combating veterans’ homelessness, getting this bill through the Senate would be nothing but a good thing, according to Steve Berg, a vice president at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
“Legislation like this is really fine tuning the system that’s been set up,” Berg told the Washington Examiner, noting the strides that have been made in combating veterans homelessness thanks to Congress, the White House and numerous organizations. “It’s nice to be in a place around veterans’ homelessness where were dealing with just technical details.”
“In the next few years, we will be working with Congress to overhaul federal homeless programs so communities can put a prevention system in place to keep from getting back to a crisis situation we’re in right now,” Berg added.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, there were nearly 50,000 homeless veterans found to be homeless nationwide during a single night in January 2014.
