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Senate bill aims to help homeless vets

Homeless veterans may soon qualify for special Section 8 housing vouchers under a measure approved Thursday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

To apply for the vouchers, veterans would contact the Veterans Affairs Department, which would screen applicants for eligibility and then manage cases. The Housing and Urban Development Department, in turn, would distribute the rental assistance.

If enacted, the funds, which total $75 million, should help provide housing for 7,500 veterans.

The money — part of a $104.6 billion transportation, housing and urban development spending bill — was not requested by the administration. The housing money is designed to accompany an increase in funds for medical and support services in the VA spending bill approved by the committee late last month.

“This program is designed to target both housing assistance and supportive services to homeless veterans, including veterans returning form the war in Iraq,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., during the committee markup. “This program hasn’t received funding for several years.”

Veterans make up about 18.7 percent of homeless adults who use emergency shelters or transitional housing, according to the committee’s explanatory report on its bill.

The committee unanimously approved the measure, but it is not yet scheduled for a floor vote by the full Senate. The House version of the bill does not contain the housing vouchers provision, which means this will be one of the many issues that will be negotiated in a House-Senate conference to craft a final compromise bill.