I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3960 

To provide for a survey regarding homeless female veterans, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 5, 2015 

Mr. CASTRO of Texas (for himself, Mr. COFFMAN, and Mr. DENHAM) introduced the following 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 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide for a survey regarding homeless female veterans, 

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 ‘‘Reduce Homelessness 

5 for Female Veterans Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SURVEY OF HOMELESS FEMALE VETERANS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 4 months after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of HousVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:45 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3960.IH H3960

smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 3960 IH

1 ing and Urban Development and the Secretary of Veterans 

2 Affairs shall enter into a contract to conduct a survey of 

3 a statistically valid sample of female veterans who are 

4 homeless. 

5 (b) SURVEY DESIGN.—The Secretaries shall design 

6 the survey required by subsection (a) to collect the fol7 lowing types of information about each individual sur8 veyed, where applicable: 

9 (1) Demographic information, including the 

10 age, race, marital status, level of educational attain11 ment, and military occupational specialty of the indi12 vidual while serving in the Armed Forces. 

13 (2) Number of years of military service, deploy14 ment, and service-connected disability (if any). 

15 (3) Whether the individual has any children, 

16 and whether any of the children require special as17 sistance. 

18 (4) Number of years of homelessness. 

19 (5) The nature and extent of the individual’s 

20 experience with the Department of Veterans Affairs, 

21 the Department of Housing and Urban Develop22 ment, and any organization that receives any discre23 tionary appropriations, direct spending, or grants 

24 from either of the departments. 

25 (6) The employment status of the individual. 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 3960 IH

1 (7) Such other matters the Secretaries deter2 mine appropriate. 

3 (c) SUBMISSION OF A MODEL OF THE SURVEY.—Not 

4 later than 1 month before the collection of data under the 

5 survey begins, the Secretaries shall submit a model of the 

6 survey designed under subsection (b) to the Committee on 

7 Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives, the 

8 Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate, the Com9 mittee on Financial Services of the House of Representa10 tives, and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

11 Urban Affairs of the Senate. 

12 (d) SURVEY COMPLETION.—The contractor shall— 

13 (1) conduct the survey required by subsection 

14 (a) by electronic means and by any other means the 

15 contractor determines appropriate; and 

16 (2) submit the results of the completed survey 

17 to the Secretaries not later than 6 months after en18 tering into the contract required by subsection (a). 

19 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the con20 tractor has submitted the results of the survey required 

21 by this section, the Secretaries shall submit to the Com22 mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa23 tives, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate, 

24 the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Rep25 resentatives, and the Committee on Banking, Housing, 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 3960 IH

1 and Urban Affairs of the Senate, a report on the results 

2 of the survey and any recommendations of the Secretaries 

3 relating to such results. The report shall also include the 

4 raw data of the survey results. 

5 (f) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF DATA.—Not later than 

6 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

7 Secretaries shall publish, and make available to the public, 

8 a report containing the data collected under subsection 

9 (d). 

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

11 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

12 shall apply: 

13 (1) The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the meaning given 

14 such term in section 101(2) of title 38, United 

15 States Code. 

16 (2) The term ‘‘homeless’’ has the meaning 

17 given such term in section 103(a) of the McKinney18 Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 11302(a)). 

Æ 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS