I 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 1957 To amend title 38, United States Code, and the United States Housing Act of 1937, to make certain improvements to the supported housing program for veterans commonly known as ‘‘HUD-VASH’’. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH6, 2025 Mr. T AKANO(for himself, Ms. WATERS, and Mr. LEVIN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, and the United States Housing Act of 1937, to make certain improve- ments to the supported housing program for veterans commonly known as ‘‘HUD-VASH’’. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End Veteran Home-4 lessness Act of 2025’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1957 IH SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF STAFFING NEEDS FOR CASE 1 MANAGERS OF THE VETERANS HEALTH AD-2 MINISTRATION WITH REGARDS TO HOME-3 LESS VETERANS AND VETERANS AT RISK OF 4 HOMELESSNESS. 5 (a) I NGENERAL.—Section 2003(b) of title 38, 6 United States Code, is amended— 7 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘The Secretary’’; 8 (2) by inserting ‘‘, and who is determined to re-9 quire case management,’’ before ‘‘is assigned’’; and 10 (3) by adding at the end the following new 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(2) In assigning case managers and providing serv-13 ices under this subsection, the Secretary shall prioritize 14 vulnerable homeless veterans, including veterans who are 15 homeless and who have disabilities (including chronic men-16 tal illness, chronic substance abuse disorders, or chronic 17 physical disabilities).’’. 18 (b) A NNUALREPORT.—The Secretary of Veterans 19 Affairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Housing and 20 Urban Development, shall submit to Congress an annual 21 report on the program under section 8(o)(19) of the 22 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 23 1437f(o)(19)), as amended by section 3 of this Act and 24 commonly known as the ‘‘HUD-VASH program’’, which 25 shall include, for the year covered by the report, each of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1957 IH the following, disaggregated by locality and by demo-1 graphics (if the Secretary of Veterans Affairs determines 2 it appropriate): 3 (1) An identification of the number and demo-4 graphic characteristics of veterans served by the 5 HUD-VASH program. 6 (2) The number, qualifications, and demo-7 graphics of case managers described in section 8 2003(b) of title 38, United States Code, as amended 9 by subsection (a). 10 (3) An assessment of the standard and scope of 11 care provided by such case managers to such vet-12 erans, including factors such as— 13 (A) staffing ratios; 14 (B) practices used in case management; 15 (C) frequency with which a case manager 16 contacts a veteran; 17 (D) whether a case manager successfully 18 connects a veteran to a requested resource or 19 support; and 20 (E) professional licenses or certifications 21 possessed by case managers. 22 (4) An assessment of the types of services pro-23 vided by such case managers to such veterans. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1957 IH (5) With regard to vouchers made available 1 under the HUD-VASH program— 2 (A) the number requested; 3 (B) the number allocated; 4 (C) the number used; 5 (D) the number assigned but unused; and 6 (E) the average time between such assig-7 nation and such use. 8 (6) The percentage of such veterans who used 9 such a voucher and received case management from 10 such a case manager. 11 (7) An identification of barriers that prevented 12 the use of such vouchers by such veterans. 13 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO HUD-VASH PROGRAM. 14 Section 8(o)(19) of the United States Housing Act 15 of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(19)) is amended— 16 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 17 (A) in the first sentence— 18 (i) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (C)’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’; and 20 (ii) by striking ‘‘the amounts specified 21 in subparagraph (B)’’ and inserting 22 ‘‘amounts’’; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1957 IH (B) by striking the second sentence and in-1 serting ‘‘In the course of administering such 2 program—’’; and 3 (C) by adding at the end the following new 4 clauses: 5 ‘‘(i) the Secretary shall provide rental 6 assistance on behalf of a veteran who is— 7 ‘‘(I) homeless; 8 ‘‘(II) at risk of homelessness; or 9 ‘‘(III) receiving assistance under 10 another housing assistance program if 11 the Secretary determines a voucher 12 under this paragraph is a more appro-13 priate form of assistance for such vet-14 eran; 15 ‘‘(ii) subject to subparagraph (D), the 16 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall furnish 17 case management to a veteran described in 18 clause (i) whom such Secretary (acting 19 through an appropriately licensed or other-20 wise qualified employee of the Department 21 of Veterans Affairs or an entity that par-22 ticipates in a centralized or coordinated 23 entry system (as defined in section 578.3 24 of title 24, Code of Federal Regulations, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1957 IH successor regulation) of the Department of 1 Housing and Urban Development) deter-2 mines requires case management; 3 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a veteran de-4 scribed in clause (ii) who refuses case man-5 agement— 6 ‘‘(I) the Secretary of Veterans 7 Affairs shall— 8 ‘‘(aa) make recurring at-9 tempts to engage and build a re-10 lationship with the veteran, in 11 order to provide such case man-12 agement to the veteran, solicit 13 feedback from the veteran, and 14 promote the veteran’s housing 15 stability and opportunities to ac-16 cess health care and other bene-17 fits under laws administered by 18 the Secretary; and 19 ‘‘(bb) provide case manage-20 ment to such veteran if the vet-21 eran subsequently requests case 22 management; 23 ‘‘(II) the Secretary of Housing 24 and Urban Development may not re-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1957 IH voke such rental assistance on behalf 1 of the veteran solely on the basis of 2 such refusal; 3 ‘‘(III) a public housing authority 4 may not revoke rental assistance pro-5 vided by such authority on behalf of 6 the veteran solely on the basis of such 7 refusal; and 8 ‘‘(IV) the owner may not evict or 9 otherwise penalize the veteran solely 10 on the basis of such refusal; and 11 ‘‘(iv) in the case of a veteran de-12 scribed in clause (ii) whose case manage-13 ment is suspended for the health and safe-14 ty of the veteran or the case manager, the 15 owner may not evict or otherwise penalize 16 the veteran solely on the basis of such sus-17 pension.’’; 18 (2) by striking subparagraph (B); 19 (3) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and 20 (D) as subparagraphs (B) and (E), respectively; and 21 (4) by inserting after subparagraph (B), as re-22 designated the following new subparagraphs: 23 ‘‘(C) V ETERANS WHO DO NOT REQUIRE 24 CASE MANAGEMENT .—A voucher made available 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1957 IH under this paragraph may be used for a home-1 less veteran, or a veteran at risk of homeless-2 ness, whom the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 3 determines does not require case management if 4 such use is included in the notice of operating 5 requirements of such program. 6 ‘‘(D) A DMINISTRATIVE FEES .—There is 7 authorized to be appropriated such sums as 8 may be necessary for administrative fee pay-9 ments to public housing agencies for costs of 10 administering vouchers under this paragraph 11 and other eligible expenses, as shall be defined 12 by notice issued by the Secretary, to facilitate 13 the leasing of the vouchers, such as security de-14 posit assistance and other costs related to re-15 tention and support of participating owners.’’. 16 SEC. 4. GAO REPORT ON HOMELESS VETERANS. 17 (a) R EPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than one year 18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comp-19 troller General of the United States shall submit to the 20 appropriate congressional committees a report containing 21 the following, disaggregated by demographics (if the 22 Comptroller General determines it appropriate)— 23 (1) a description of the demographic character-24 istics of veterans served by the HUD-VASH pro-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1957 IH gram, disaggregated by whether the veteran is re-1 ceiving services from a case manager described in 2 section 2003(b) of title 38, United States Code, as 3 amended by section 2 of this Act; 4 (2) the number, qualifications, and demographic 5 characteristics of such case managers; 6 (3) an assessment of the types and quality of 7 case management services provided to veterans by 8 case managers described in section 2003(b) of title 9 38, United States Code, as amended by section 2, 10 disaggregated by locality; 11 (4) an assessment of recruitment and retention 12 of such case managers, disaggregated by locality and 13 demographic characteristics; and 14 (5) metrics regarding housing stability and re-15 tention for veterans participating in Federal housing 16 assistance programs, including veterans who have 17 participated in more than one such program and 18 reasons why veterans ceased to so participate. 19 (b) A PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES 20 D EFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con-21 gressional committees’’ means the following: 22 (1) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 23 House of Representatives. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1957 IH (2) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 1 Senate. 2 (3) The Committee on Financial Services of the 3 House of Representatives. 4 (4) The Committee on Banking, Housing, and 5 Urban Affairs of the Senate. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1957.IH H1957 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS