New York – November 10, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The week of Veterans Day, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer urged his colleagues in Congress to pass legislation that will improve programs that provide support services to homeless veterans and their families. With frigid winter temperatures fast approaching, Schumer said that 174 veterans across Long Island, from Glen Cove to Greenport, who do not have permanent residences could be left out in the cold. Therefore, Schumer is pushing to pass sweeping legislation that will encourage landlords to rent to veterans, modify the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) program that sells foreclosed homes to veterans, and deliver grants to organizations that support formerly homeless veterans, among many other initiatives aimed at ending veteran homelessness.
Ralph Fasano, Executive Director of Concern for Independent Living said, “I urge everyone to get behind Senator Schumer and this important legislation that will bring us one step closer to ending Veteran homelessness. We are winning this fight but cannot ease up until ever Veteran has a place they can call home.”
· Require the VA establish and operate a National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans, which would:
o Research further into the causes of veteran homelessness;
o And assess the effectiveness of VA homeless veterans programs, as well as serve as a center for the exchange of information on the topic;
·Expand the VA’s housing assistance program to include veterans and their families who are at risk of becoming homeless, and to provide additional assistance for acquiring and transitioning to, and maintaining occupancy in, permanent housing;
· Require the VA to improve its intensive case management interventions for veterans enrolled in the VA’s homeless registry and improve housing retention by veterans who were previously homeless and are transitioning to permanent housing, as well as veterans who are at risk of becoming homeless;
·Authorize the VA to evaluate the performance of entities that received federal grant funding for the purpose of helping homeless veterans find housing and employment.
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