II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 8 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the supported 

housing program of the Department of Veterans Affairs has not fewer 

than one program manager for every 35 rental assistance cases under 

such program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that 

the supported housing program of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs has not fewer than one program manager for every 35 rental assistance cases under such 

program, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preserving Our Com5 mitment to Homeless Veterans Act’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•S 8 IS

1 SEC. 2. STAFFING OF PROGRAM MANAGERS FOR SUP2 PORTED HOUSING PROGRAM OF DEPART3 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

4 (a) STAFFING.—Section 2003(b) of title 38, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘The Secretary’’; 

7 and 

8 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

9 paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall provide case management 

11 support whenever requested by a local housing authority 

12 under the supported housing program administered under 

13 such section. 

14 ‘‘(3)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the 

15 Secretary shall ensure that in each fiscal year no case 

16 manager is concurrently assigned to more than 35 vet17 erans under this subsection. 

18 ‘‘(B) The Secretary may waive the requirement of 

19 subparagraph (A) for a particular case manager in a par20 ticular fiscal year as the Secretary considers appropriate. 

21 ‘‘(C) Not less frequently than once each fiscal year, 

22 the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 

23 waivers made by the Secretary under subparagraph (B) 

24 in the previous fiscal year. Each report shall include a de25 scription of the circumstances under which each waiver 

26 was made. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•S 8 IS

1 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall ensure that each veteran to 

2 whom a case manager is assigned under this subsection 

3 is located within such distance of the case manager as the 

4 Secretary considers reasonable. 

5 ‘‘(5)(A) In any case in which a position within the 

6 Veterans Health Administration for a case manager de7 scribed in paragraph (1) is vacant for a period of 180 days 

8 or more, the Secretary shall seek to enter into a contract 

9 with a local service provider with knowledge and expertise 

10 applicable to a case manager in such position to furnish 

11 the case management services that would otherwise be 

12 provided by a case manager in such position. 

13 ‘‘(B) The requirement in subparagraph (A) to seek 

14 to enter into a contract shall cease to apply if the Sec15 retary fills the vacancy referred to in such subpara16 graph.’’. 

17 (b) LIMITATION ON CONVERSION OF FUNDS.—The 

18 Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not convert any of the 

19 amounts appropriated or otherwise made available in a fis20 cal year to carry out section 8(o)(19) of the United States 

21 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(19)) from a 

22 specific purpose program to a general purpose program 

23 unless the Secretary included a proposal to do so in the 

24 budget justification materials submitted to Congress in 

25 support of the Department of Veterans Affairs budget for 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•S 8 IS

1 such fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of the 

2 President for such fiscal year under section 1105(a) of 

3 title 31, United States Code). 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS