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S. HRG. 109–1069 

MEETING THE HOUSING NEEDS OF VETERANS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND 

TRANSPORTATION 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

ON 

BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE EXISTING VETERANS HOUSING PROGRAMS, VETERANS HOMEOWNERSHIP, AND EXAMINING THE PROGRAMS THAT SERVICE THE UNIQUE NEEDS OF HOMELESS VETERANS 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2006 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

( 

Available at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/senate05sh.html 

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(II) 

COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS 

RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama, Chairman 

ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah 

WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska 

RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania 

JIM BUNNING, Kentucky 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

ELIZABETH DOLE, North Carolina 

MEL MARTINEZ, Florida 

PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland 

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut 

TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota 

JACK REED, Rhode Island 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

EVAN BAYH, Indiana 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

KATHLEEN L. CASEY, Staff Director and Counsel 

STEVEN B. HARRIS, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

JOSEPH R. KOLINSKI, Chief Clerk and Computer Systems Administrator 

GEORGE E. WHITTLE, Editor 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION

WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado, Chairman 

JACK REED, Rhode Island, Ranking Member 

RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania 

ELIZABETH DOLE, North Carolina 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah 

MEL MARTINEZ, Florida 

RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama 

DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

TEWANA WILKERSON, Staff Director 

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(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2006 

Page 

Opening statement of Chairman Allard ................................................................ 1 

Opening statements, comments, or prepared statements of: 

Senator Reed ..................................................................................................... 5 

Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 10 

Senator Menendez ............................................................................................ 10 

Prepared statement ................................................................................... 35 

WITNESSES 

Mark Johnston, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Needs Assistance 

Programs, Department of Housing and Urban Development ........................... 3 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 35 

Response to written questions of: 

Senator Reed .............................................................................................. 50 

Keith Pedigo, Director of Loan Guaranty, Department of Veterans Affairs ...... 6 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 36 

Peter Dougherty, Director of Homeless Veterans Programs, Department of 

Veterans Affairs ................................................................................................... 7 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 38 

Cheryl Beversdorf, Chief Executive Officer, National Coalition for Homeless 

Veterans ................................................................................................................ 23 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 43 

Barbara Banaszynski, Director of Program Development, Volunteers of 

America ................................................................................................................. 25 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 46 

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(1) 

MEETING THE HOUSING NEEDS OF 

VETERANS 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2006 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met at 2:31 p.m., in Room 538, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Wayne Allard, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ALLARD 

Senator ALLARD. Today the Housing and Transportation Subcommittee convenes to hold a hearing on meeting the housing 

needs of veterans. 

While every member of the Senate has veteran constituents, this 

is particularly important to Colorado. The Fifth Congressional District, located in Colorado Springs, has the Nation’s highest concentration of veterans. 

Veterans embody some of America’s highest ideals, including 

duty, honor, courage, commitment and self-sacrifice. 

In recognition of their service to our nation, we have provided 

them with certain benefits such as education and home ownership 

opportunities. These benefits have been important for veterans and 

their families. 

Many families might not own a home today but it has not been 

for the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program. 

The Federal Government also operates programs designed to 

meet the housing needs of homeless veterans. While these programs are not created specifically as a benefit for military service, 

they have evolved as a more effective and efficient way to prevent 

and end homelessness among veterans. Homelessness is tragic, but 

particularly so among those who nobly served their country. 

This Committee has not conducted a hearing on veterans housing 

issues in some time and I believe it is long overdue. Under Rule 

25 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee on Banking, 

Housing and Urban Affairs has jurisdiction of public and private 

housing, including veterans housing. While this jurisdiction may 

come as a surprise to some, I believe that veterans housing is a 

very important area and as Subcommittee Chairmen, I intend to 

become active on the matter. 

Today’s hearing is intended as an opportunity for members to 

better understand the existing veterans housing programs. 

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On the first panel, we will hear from the individuals who administer these very important programs. Our first witness on that 

panel will be Mr. Mark Johnston, Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

Special Needs Assistance Programs at the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development. In this capacity, he runs the homeless assistance programs at HUD, which serve many veterans. He is also 

active in HUD’s interagency efforts on homelessness. 

Mr. Johnston has been a friend of this Subcommittee and I 

would like to publicly acknowledge him for the technical assistance 

he has provided to me and to the Subcommittee staff, particularly 

on homeless consolidation. 

Our second witness will be Mr. Keith Pedigo, Director of Loan 

Guaranty at the Department of Veterans Affairs. This important 

program has allowed millions of veterans to become homeowners. 

Given the recent focus of the Subcommittee on the FHA Loan 

Guaranty Programs, we will be interested to hear about the ways 

in which the VA program is similar and different from VHA. 

Our final witness on the panel will be Mr. Peter Dougherty, Director of Homeless Veterans Programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Dougherty administers a number of different 

programs designed to meet the unique needs of homeless veterans. 

The Subcommittee will be eager to understand the improved outcomes that can be obtained through specialty veteran targeted programs. 

Before I turn to the second panel, I would like also to acknowledge the work of a number of other Government agencies. Homelessness is a multifaceted problem requiring multiple solutions. 

Many agencies, including the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services and others are working 

to prevent and end homelessness. Some departments, such as the 

Department of Labor, even has specific programs designed to meet 

the needs of homeless veterans. 

While these programs might not be under our jurisdiction, I 

would like to take this opportunity to commend them for their 

work. Clearly, their programs have an important nexus with the 

homeless veteran housing programs as we are discussing today. 

On our second panel, we will hear from two individuals who run 

nonprofits that utilize the Federal Government programs to assist 

veterans. First, we will hear from Ms. Cheryl Beversdorf, who is 

the Chief Executive Officer of the National Coalition for Homeless 

Veterans. The coalition represents over 250 member organizations 

and is active in the effort to end homelessness among our Nation’s 

veterans. 

Finally, we will hear testimony from Ms. Barbara Banaszynski, 

who is Director of Program Development for the Volunteers of 

America. Volunteers of America is a faith-based nonprofit that provides a range of services including housing, mental and physical 

health services and case management to veterans in need. 

I would like to thank both panels of witnesses for being here 

today. Your testimony will help us better understand the existing 

program for meeting veterans housing needs, as well as ways in 

which these programs might be improved. 

Finally, I would like to note that I have had the good fortune to 

also work with Senator Reed, my ranking member, on the Armed 

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Services Committee. In fact, we also used to share an Armed Services Subcommittee as chairman and ranking member. 

Through our service together on the Armed Services Committee, 

I know that Senator Reed shares my strong commitment to our 

men and women in uniform. I am confident that we will carry that 

over to our Nation’s veterans as we examine ways to meet their 

housing needs. 

I look forward to working with Senator Reed and my other colleagues as we delve into this issue. 

As I mentioned—okay. 

Senator Reed will be joining us later. He may have an opening 

statement that he would like to make. We will go ahead and give 

him an opportunity to do that when he shows up. 

In the meantime, I am going to go ahead and proceed with the 

panel. There might be other members that will show up this afternoon. We will start with panel Number 1. 

Mr. Johnston, we will have you go first from HUD and then we 

will go to Keith Pedigo of VA Loan Guaranty, and then Peter 

Dougherty of VA Homeless Programs, if you would. And then we 

will go through a question and answer period right after the panel, 

and then go on to the second panel. We will probably spend most 

of the afternoon working with the first panel before we go to the 

second panel. 

Mr. Mark Johnston, would you like to start off your testimony? 

STATEMENT OF MARK JOHNSTON, DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY FOR SPECIAL NEEDS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS, 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

Mr. JOHNSTON. Thank you. Chairman Allard, I am pleased to be 

here on the behalf of Secretary Alphonso Jackson and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

The Secretary recognizes the responsibility America has to its 

veterans, especially to those who are homeless. It is estimated that 

veterans account for approximately one-quarter of the homeless 

population. 

For the past 20 years, HUD has served homeless veterans, as 

well as other homeless subgroups. To better serve the homeless, in 

1994 HUD developed the Continuum of Care Planning and Grant 

Process, which calls for communities to develop local plans to solve 

homelessness. Continuum of Care is a community led effort that involves a diverse group of organizations, including State and local 

Governments, public housing agencies, nonprofit providers, foundations, and homeless and formerly homeless persons. 

Continuums have been proven to be effective in coordinating the 

effort to fight homelessness. Among the reasons for their effectiveness are the broad-based partnerships they have forged at the local 

level. HUD is committed, through continuum of care, to ending 

chronic homelessness. 

To underscore HUD’s continued commitment to serve homeless 

veterans, this year’s Continuum of Care application encourages organizations that represent homeless veterans to be at the planning 

table and require that communities identify the number of homeless persons who are veterans so that each community can more effectively address their needs. 

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In 2005, HUD awarded nearly $1.3 billion in targeted homeless 

assistance. Homeless veterans are eligible for all of the Department’s homeless assistance programs. HUD awarded funding to 90 

percent of all of the veteran specific applications received. HUD has 

also established a veteran resource center in consultation with National Veterans Service Organizations. HUDVET’s goal is to provide veterans and their family members with information on 

HUD’s community-based programs and services. 

HUD is also involved with a number of interagency initiatives 

that focus on solving homelessness, including for homeless veterans. One of these initiatives in which HUD is involved is the 

VA’s Secretarial Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans, an important advisory group that has addressed chronic homelessness 

among veterans. 

HUD is also involved with the Collaborative Initiative to Help 

End Chronic Homelessness, a joint initiative with HUD, VA and 

the Department of Health and Human Services. HUD provided the 

housing needed for homeless persons, while the VA and HHS provided the needed supportive services to help them stabilize their 

lives. 

In consultation with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, chaired by Secretary Jackson, HUD developed a special initiative to help persons who have been homeless for years and are 

also chronically inebriated. HUD provided funding for permanent 

housing and community partners provided the needed supportive 

services. Homeless veterans are among those served by these 

homeless initiatives. 

In addition to these initiatives, HUD participates in various national homeless conferences. For instance, as the director of HUD’s 

homeless programs, I was in Denver this week speaking at the Department of Labor’s national conference for grantees serving homeless veterans along with my colleagues from the VA, including Pete 

Dougherty, and the Department of Labor. These conferences provide an opportunity to collaborate with other organizations that 

share the same goal of solving homelessness. 

HUD has also developed technical assistance to benefit homeless 

veterans. For instance, a guide book called Coordinating Resources 

and Developing Strategies to Address the Needs of Homeless Veterans describes programs serving veterans that are effectively coordinating HUD homeless funding with other resources. 

In closing, the administration is committed, through the Continuum of Care process, to ending chronic homelessness, as well as 

solving homelessness among veterans and all Americans. HUD will 

continue to work with its Federal, State and local partners to meet 

this commitment. 

Mr. Chairman, I will be happy to address any questions that the 

Subcommittee may have at a later point. 

Senator ALLARD. Mr. Johnston, thank you for your testimony. 

As I indicated to the panel, as members showed up on the Committee we will give them an opportunity to make an opening statement if they wanted to. I will turn to Mr. Reed, my ranking member, to see if he has an opening statement. 

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STATEMENT OF SENATOR REED 

Senator REED. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And this is 

one of those issues where our participation both on this Committee 

and on the Armed Services Committee comes in handy. I know of 

your great service on the Committee and your sincere and profound 

interest in veterans, so I look forward to working with you. 

Senator ALLARD. I am looking forward to working with you, too. 

I also am on the Appropriations Committee, I am on Military Construction. And underneath that Subcommittee we now deal with 

veterans issues there, also. 

Senator REED. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

We all understand the contributions that veterans are making to 

our safety today, and we all understand also that we have a profound obligation to help them. The Department of Veterans Affairs 

currently provides services to 100,000 homeless veterans and guarantees 300,000 to 400,000 VA loans every year. The Department of 

Housing and Urban Development also provides services to veterans 

through the Section 8, Section 202 and Section 811 programs and 

other homeless assistance programs. 

Some veterans, however, seem to be falling through the cracks 

despite these efforts. I am particularly concerned about the disproportionate number of veterans who experience repeated episodes 

of homelessness. Though veterans make up less than 10 percent of 

the population as a whole, they make up 25 percent of the homeless population, and 400,000 vets are homeless in any given year. 

I think I express the sentiment of all of us here, to have any veteran who serves his country without a home in his country is a 

shocking and condemning fact. 

High housing costs, unemployment, poor education and mental 

and physical impairment seem to be the most oft-cited causes for 

veteran homelessness. Researchers, however, have also reported 

that homeless women vets, who are 3.5 times more likely to be 

homeless than their non-veteran counterparts, do not necessarily 

possess these risk factors. So there is something else at work with 

homeless vets. 

Similarly, while the VA Loan Guaranty Program has allowed 

millions of veterans to obtain home ownership, in an era when veterans tend to have low incomes, many cannot take advantage of 

the full range of home ownership benefits for which they are eligible. 

Additionally, as with people with disabilities in general, 700,000 

poor disabled veterans face significant obstacles in finding accessible housing they can afford. 

No single agency is capable of fully addressing the housing challenges that our veterans face. 

I believe that how we decide to deal with the housing of veterans, 

just as we determine how to address the housing needs of all Americans, reflects our values and priorities as a nation. 

This hearing will, I hope, illuminate some of the reasons why 

tackling the issue of affordable housing is of paramount importance 

to the American people. I believe that measures that I and others 

have offered, such as the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Affordable 

Housing Fund, the Services to End Long-Term Homelessness Act, 

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and the Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act, also 

can aid in these efforts. 

Again, I look forward to working with the Chairman. Thank you, 

Mr. Chairman, for convening this hearing. 

Senator ALLARD. Thank you very much. I look forward to continuing to work with you, Senator Reed. 

Mr. Pedigo, continue if you would, please. 

STATEMENT OF KEITH PEDIGO, DIRECTOR OF LOAN 

GUARANTY, DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 

Mr. PEDIGO. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today 

to discuss the VA Loan Guaranty Program. 

In my testimony I would like to highlight VA’s commitment to 

meeting the housing needs of our Nation’s veterans. I am pleased 

to be accompanied by Mr. Peter Dougherty, Director of Homeless 

Veterans Programs. Mr. Dougherty will discuss issues pertaining to 

homeless veterans. 

The VA Loan Program serves a clientele which is diverse in 

many ways. The only common denominator of this clientele is their 

service in the armed forces of our Nation. 

Since the inception of the program, the objective has been to assist eligible veterans to become homeowners. Veterans are assisted 

by making them more competitive in the mortgage marketplace. 

The program is intended to benefit men and women because of 

their service to the country. 

The VA Loan Program provides a guarantee to lenders who make 

loans to veterans and service members. The program’s most distinguishing feature is that it allows veterans to purchase a home 

without the need to make a down payment. Ninety-one percent of 

the loans that VA guaranteed last year were made without a down 

payment. 

Other important program benefits include making direct loans to 

Native American veterans living on Trust lands and providing specially adapted housing grants to severely disabled veterans. 

Since the Loan Guaranty Program was established as part of the 

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more commonly known as 

the GI Bill, VA has guaranteed over 18 million loans to veterans 

totaling almost $900 billion. The VA Loan Program has made mortgage credit available to many veterans who would not have been 

able to purchase a home otherwise. 

VA guaranteed loans are made to veterans by lenders such as 

banks, savings and loans and mortgage companies for the purpose 

of purchasing a home which must be for the veterans’ own personal 

occupancy. Lenders must follow VA credit underwriting regulations 

and other VA requirements in approving and closing these loans. 

In return, VA issues a partial guarantee to the lender, protecting 

them against loss. There is no maximum VA loan but lenders will 

generally make no down payment loans up to $417,000. This is because lenders sell loans in the secondary market which currently 

places a $417,000 maximum on these loans. 

In certain high-cost areas such as Hawaii, Alaska, Guam and the 

U.S. Virgin Islands, the secondary market will buy no down payment loans for up to $625,000. Each January the maximum VA 

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loan that a veteran can obtain is adjusted to be consistent with the 

Freddie Mac Conventional Conforming Loan Limit. This is nearly 

always an upward adjustment. 

Currently eligible veterans and service personnel may obtain a 

VA loan to buy, build or renovate a single-family home, a 

townhome, a condominium unit as well as buy a new or used manufactured home and/or lot. VA loans are also available to refinance 

an existing VA loan for the purpose of reducing the interest rate 

or to obtain cash from the equity in the home. 

During fiscal years 2001 through 2005 VA guaranteed 1.6 million 

loans totaling $202 billion. 

VA considers that it has a twofold purpose in administering the 

program. Number one, to help veterans purchase the home of their 

choice; and Number two, to help them keep their home when they 

encounter financial difficulty. 

Like other homeowners, some veterans experience financial hardships that affect their ability to make loan payments. When this occurs, we help veterans retain their homes through supplemental 

servicing efforts. VA offers financial counseling and may even intervene directly with the loan servicer on behalf of the veteran to 

work out a repayment plan. 

When this assistance results in a veterans’ loan being saved, we 

call this a successful intervention. Successful interventions help 

veterans avoid foreclosure and reduce the amounts VA is obligated 

to pay under guarantee. 

In fiscal year 2005, there were 8,963 instances where a VA intervention brought a foreclosure-bound loan current. If VA had not 

successfully intervened, $175 million in claim payments would 

have been made to lenders under the guarantee. More importantly, 

however, 8,963 veterans whose loans were in jeopardy of being 

foreclosed were able to continue living in their homes. 

The savings exceeds the total Government operating expense 

money requested to sustain operation to the program in fiscal year 

2006. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today and look forward to answering any questions. 

Senator ALLARD. Thank you very much for your testimony. Now 

we will go to Mr. Dougherty. 

STATEMENT OF PETER DOUGHERTY, DIRECTOR OF 

HOMELESS VETERANS PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENT OF 

VETERANS AFFAIRS 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is certainly my 

pleasure, on behalf of Secretary Nicholson, to be here with you 

today and discuss the Department of Veterans Affairs programs 

and services that help homeless veterans achieve their housing 

needs. We thank you for inviting us. 

The VA’s commitment is and remains to end chronic homelessness among veterans. To meet that goal, VA has and continues to 

create opportunities to bring together those veterans in need of assistance with a wide range of services and treatment that VA and 

others provide. 

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VA provides health care services to more than 100,000 homeless 

veterans each year. We provide about 12,000 residential treatment 

beds of services each night. About 8,000 of those that are currently 

operating are run by nonprofit groups and organizations in communities across the country, and about 4,000 of them are run by VA 

programs on VA grounds. 

For veterans who are homeless, our efforts involve a significant 

amount of health care services. Veterans are somewhat different 

than others in the homeless population both by age, by disease, by 

mental health and substance abuse. They are much more likely to 

be older than nonveterans. They are much more likely to be sicker 

than nonveterans. And they are much more likely to have been 

homeless longer than nonveterans have been. 

With that being said, let us talk a little bit about the prevention 

aspects of it. As the Committee is aware, we believe that the best 

strategy to prevent homelessness is early intervention. And that includes those returning from the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We think this kind of policy of early treatment and the 

opportunity to get those veterans in and seen and served is, in fact, 

the best option that remains available to us. 

VA has worked closely over the last three years with our friends 

at HUD and HHS to work with the chronically homeless in the collaborative initiative that Mark Johnston mentioned. There are 600 

chronically homeless individuals who have been housed underneath 

that initiative and 30 percent of them are veterans. 

During the past five years VA, HUD and HHS have sponsored 

a series of policy academies that bring together a broad group who 

work with the homeless populations in their respective states to 

improve the coordination of statewide efforts to aid the homeless. 

This approach was developed in coordination with the National 

Governor’s Association, has been overseen by the U.S. Interagency 

Council on the Homeless, and we think has really helped to aid the 

development of coordinated plans at the State level to end homelessness. 

VA has recognized HUD’s long-standing involvement with us 

with a program called HUD–VASH. That is a program where HUD 

provides Section 8s to veterans and we provide ongoing case management and health care services to the veterans that are in that 

program. It is, in fact, probably the most successful program that 

we have. 

VA has a long tradition of working with local providers in their 

communities and we have what is called a CHALENG meeting at 

each medical center. That is at least a once a year meeting where 

we bring together community service providers and others to look 

at the met and unmet needs of homeless veterans in their community, to improve access to services, improve resource directories, 

but perhaps most importantly to develop a local action plan to address those unmet needs. We look at that information very carefully at VA when we look at awarding new grants. And the Department of Housing and Urban Development uses that information to 

help identify the needs of veterans in their local Continuums of 

Care, as well. 

Ten years ago we believe there were about 250,000 homeless veterans on any given night on the streets of America. Last year, 

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based on the best estimate that we have, we believe there were 

about 195,000. That is obviously still a tragically high number but 

it is a sign that the work and the effort that we have made in both 

our department and with our partners at the Federal level and at 

the local level is having some success. We are confident that our 

continued efforts will achieve the goal of ending chronic homelessness among veterans. 

We, along with many Veterans Service Organizations, State and 

local Governments and others participate in what is called standdowns, a significant outreach activity. Some are 1 day, some are 3- 

day activities to reach out to homeless veterans. There were about 

a hundred of those programs that we recorded last year. About 

20,000 veterans and their families were seen in that outreach effort. But perhaps as significant, there were about 13,000 volunteers 

who came out and helped to assist. 

As you know, our largest single program is the Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program. That is a program were we 

can provide transitional supportive housing to homeless veterans. 

We also provide service centers and allow the purchase of vans to 

provide outreach and transportation to homeless veterans so they 

can get to the needed health care and employment services that 

they need. 

Since that program was authorized in 1992, close to 10,000 transitional housing beds, 23 independent service centers and 180 vans 

to provide transportation have been awarded. We are in the process 

of looking at a current notice of funding availability that closed in 

June and we hope that in September the Secretary will make an 

announcement that will probably add something between 500 and 

1,000 additional transitional housing beds. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs addresses the health care 

and the benefits needs of veterans. And what we have found is that 

when we have identified veterans as homeless we get expedited 

claims processing for those veterans. 

In the last two reported fiscal years, we had almost 14,000 

claims filed on behalf of homeless veterans. And among those 

claims that were filed, 37 percent of compensation claims and 73 

percent of nonservice-connected pension claims were approved. 

That income support is a significant advantage to getting those veterans out of the homeless condition. Those are claims after the veteran was identified as being homeless. 

As the Committee knows, we have had a pilot program that 

would allow us to provide loan guarantee to transitional housing, 

multifamily transitional housing for homeless veterans. We have 

two guarantees that we have made, one is to Catholic Charities in 

Chicago. We expect that program will open this fall. The construction is almost completed. And we have another in San Diego, California. 

We are currently in the process of finding other good partners to 

work with us in those programs. 

As you have indicated in your opening statement, we work with 

a whole variety of programs, the Department of Labor, the Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, HUD and others, Social Security Administration among them. 

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People always want to know are we being successful at what we 

are doing. We can tell you that we did a study of 1,350 veterans 

who were in three types of programs: contract residential care, 

grant and per diem programs and domiciliary care in-house residential programs. With the evaluation that was done, we found 

that 80 percent of those veterans who had been in those programs 

a year after they completed that program were still appropriately 

housed. Given the population, that is a very significant result. 

VA, as I said, collaborates with a number of Federal agencies. 

We recognize there is still much for us to do to end homelessness 

and particularly chronic homelessness in this country. But we 

think that developing appropriate linkage to health care, housing, 

benefits assistance, employment and transportation, all those components need to come together in order to bring these veterans out 

of despair and homelessness. 

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to also answer any questions you or 

the Subcommittee may have. 

Senator ALLARD. Thank you very much. 

We have a couple of members that have shown up and we will 

give you an opportunity to make an opening statement, if you 

would like to, Senator Carper or Senator Menendez. 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER 

Senator CARPER. As a veteran of the Navy and on behalf of a 

whole lot of folks who have been serving our country for a long 

time, I just want to say thank you for the work that you do in trying to look out for our veterans. And we appreciate it. 

When I got off of active-duty and moved from California to Delaware to go to University of Delaware Graduate School, one of the 

first places I went was the VA hospital, which is up the road in 

Ellesmere, close to Newark and Wilmington. Later I went back 

there to find out about a VA loan. The first house I bought was 

with a VA loan. 

So, as one who has benefited personally from that, I just want 

to express our thanks. 

Senator ALLARD. The Senator from New Jersey. 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR MENENDEZ 

Senator MENENDEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I just ask my full statement be entered into the record, and I 

look forward to the opportunity to ask some questions. 

We have 8,000 homeless veterans in New Jersey. That is 8,000 

too many, amongst the 200,000 or so annually in the country. And 

I think a grateful Nation deserves to do much more than that. 

So I look forward to the opportunity to ask questions. 

Senator ALLARD. We will proceed now with the question period. 

We will allocate 5 minutes per member and then, if necessary, we 

will have a second round. If we still have continued interest, we 

may even go a third round with this panel. 

Let me start this off. I have had some individuals who apply for 

housing assistance through the veterans program complain that it 

was a drawn out lengthy process. Do you think there is any opportunity to simplify the application process, to be able to expedite it 

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tial to keep it—right now there is not any opportunity to look for 

flexibility in the program or single application progress? Or perhaps maybe a single set of regulations? 

Mr. PEDIGO. Mr. Chairman, I think one of the stories that is 

most difficult for us to get out to the veteran and to the mortgage 

and real estate sales communities is the fact that the VA program 

has changed dramatically in recent years. We have made a concerted effort in the last 10 years to streamline program operations 

to make it easier for private sector program participants to use and 

for veterans. Our focus has been on delegating as much authority 

as we can to lenders to make decisions on loans. 

Presently 99 percent of the loans that VA guarantees are processed by lenders. And lenders have the authority to approve or disapprove a veteran’s loan application. In 95 percent of those cases, 

we have delegated lenders the authority to review the appraisal report and make the final value determination on VA’s behalf. These 

two functions were previously done in-house and it did take a protracted period of time, in some instances, to get a veteran’s loan 

finished. 

Coupled with those changes are some significant advancements 

that we have made in the automation field, which now allow lenders to come in electronically and order the appraisal report and the 

appraiser to electronically send the appraisal report back to the 

lender and to the VA. Also, we have an automated certificate of eligibility system that we put in place 3 years ago that allows lenders 

to get an eligibility determination online. With these improvements, we believe that the VA Home Loan Program now is consistent in terms of requirements with the conventional loan programs in the private sector. 

Senator ALLARD. I think it would be really important as soon as 

they get out of the service to get that certificate. Would you think? 

Mr. PEDIGO. That is very important. 

Senator ALLARD. Because the records are right there pretty much 

at everybody’s fingertips. 

Mr. PEDIGO. That is very important and we are presently working on an enhancement to that automated eligibility system that 

will give veterans access to it. Presently only lenders can access it 

on veterans behalf. 

Senator ALLARD. Is that right? The eligibility certificate, only the 

person who is granting the loan can access that certificate? 

Mr. PEDIGO. Only that person can access the automated certificate. 

Senator ALLARD. So it is not a universal certificate where if they 

ever need to tap into any of the veterans programs, they could just 

refer to that certificate and they would be eligible? 

Mr. PEDIGO. You are correct. It is only specific to eligibility for 

the home loan program. 

Senator ALLARD. Well, we are getting a little bit out of where I 

would like to see, but it seems like that could be simplified a little 

bit. 

Mr. PEDIGO. I think there is some opportunity as we move forward to possibly incorporate some of the eligibility requirements in 

the other benefit programs. But the way Title 38 is configured 

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presently, there are different eligibility requirements for each of 

the five programs that we administer in VA. 

Senator ALLARD. I see. So it is more than just verify the fact that 

they have been in the service? 

Mr. PEDIGO. That is correct. It is not just how long you have 

been in the service. It is the character of the service and what period of time you served. 

Senator ALLARD. Maybe what geographic area, too. 

Mr. PEDIGO. Well, the geographic area does not really come in 

play but when you served definitely comes into play. 

Senator ALLARD. Now let us look at the homeless programs. Now 

HUD, on their homeless programs, Senator Reed and the administration and I worked together and we consolidated some of those 

programs. Is there any benefit to consolidating the VA homeless 

programs, do you think? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. Mr. Chairman, we have two programs that really go out to the community. One is the multifamily housing, which 

is only a 15 pilot project. The other is the Homeless Providers 

Grant and Per Diem Program. That program, although it is nationally competed and probably needs to be, given the small nature of 

the funding that is available, has great flexibility. It allows programs that have 100 or more veterans in a program to apply, as 

well as programs that are as small as six. It applies equally both 

to urban and rural areas. And we have done something in the last 

few years, Congress gave us the authority to use some targeting 

mechanisms. And we were able to target some States and jurisdictions that did not already have programs. 

The States of Alaska and Maine a year ago did not have a homeless veteran-specific program in their State. So we were able to target funding to those States. And both of those States responded by 

putting in applications that have now been approved. 

I am not sure there is much need for consolidation because there 

is only one program to compete for. 

Senator ALLARD. I understand. Thank you for your response. 

Senator Reed. 

Senator REED. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Johnston, I am told 50 percent of the homeless veterans have 

a substance abuse problem and there are other significant veterans 

with mental health disabilities. In fact, there are a number who 

have dual diagnoses or several diagnoses. 

You created, initially by a memorandum between HUD and the 

VA, the Supported Housing Program in 1992. It was authorized 

after that. The actual authorization provided 2000 vouchers from 

fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year 2006. But additional appropriations 

to fund the program have not been requested by HUD. 

Can you tell me how many HUD–VASH vouchers are still in use 

today? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. My understanding is, and frankly there is a researcher at the VA that we work with, Dr. Rosenheck, that Pete 

and I work with, that tracks it relatively closely across the country, 

because it is the VA that actually helps administer this housing 

and supportive services. 

But my understanding is it is close to about 1,500, but we can 

get back to you with the more specific information on that. 

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Senator ALLARD. Thank you. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. I had a small part to play in developing the 

HUD–VASH program back in 1991, and we also found it to be an 

effective program. Because of that, we proposed and the Congress 

created the Shelter Plus Care program, which is the very model 

that we were testing out with the HUD–VASH program, whereby 

HUD would provide the rental assistance and other parties, in this 

case the VA, would provide supportive services such as case management. 

So Shelter Plus Care was based on that model and is now HUD’s 

second largest homeless assistance program, providing hundreds of 

millions of dollars a year of rental assistance across the country 

matched up with services locally. So it is a great success. 

Senator REED. Let me understand. In a sense, the prototype for 

the Shelter Plus Care program was the HUD–VASH voucher program. So you are no longer funding that program. Your requests 

are now being routed through Shelter Plus Care? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. That is the vehicle that we see as so appropriate, 

because there is available funding for it and it is a great model to 

be using HUD money for housing and other monies for services. 

Senator REED. That was originally the design of the HUD–VASH 

program, too, HUD money for housing and other services that were 

principally VA services? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. VA, exactly. 

Senator REED. Mr. Pedigo, we all recognize that the VA Home 

Loan Guaranty Program has been very helpful. Senator Carper 

pointed that out. I am also a beneficiary after getting out of the 

United States Army. 

The biggest population that benefited were really veterans from 

World War II to 1960. There are now 1.5 million veterans that 

have incomes that fall below the poverty line, and some significantly below the poverty line. 

How do we reach out to these veterans who, unlike their predecessors, the World War II veterans, were able to come back into an 

economy, get jobs with good paychecks and buy a home? How do 

we reach these people? 

Mr. PEDIGO. Senator, the VA loan program’s charge is to try to 

approve as many loans as we can. But the law does require that 

the veteran have satisfactory credit and that he or she have sufficient income to support themselves and their other family members. 

In carrying out the statute, we have made an effort to develop 

some very flexible credit underwriting guidelines. And it is our policy to provide the benefit of the doubt to any veteran who appears 

to be close to meeting those credit guidelines. 

In looking at the performance of the VA Loan Program, of course 

we are a no down payment program. By definition that is the 

riskiest type of loan that a lender can make. Veterans have been 

very excellent paymasters. Over time only 6.3 percent of VA loans 

have gone to foreclosure. If you compare that with some of the 

other Government programs, as well as other programs in the private sector, you will find that that performance is very good. 

We know that there are a lot of veterans out there who simply 

cannot qualify, either because they do not have sufficient income 

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or because they do not have satisfactory credit. We try to work 

with these veterans when they apply and are disapproved by providing some advice to them on how they might improve their credit 

record or how they might alter their financial approach in order to 

be approved at some point down the road. 

The home loan benefit has no expiration period. And so it is good 

until it is used. In fact, the veteran can even reuse it as long as 

the prior loan is paid off. So we make it a point to tell veterans 

who do not presently qualify that they will have an opportunity, 

whether it is next year or 10 years from now, to use that benefit. 

Senator REED. Thank you. 

Mr. Chairman, will we have a second round? 

Senator ALLARD. We are going to have three rounds, possibly. 

Senator REED. Thank you. 

Senator ALLARD. Mr. Menendez. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Johnston, with 200,000 veterans homeless on any given 

night and more than 400,000 experiencing homeless over the 

course of a year, how would you grade our ability to deal with veterans’ homelessness? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. We have seen some very encouraging signs within the last two to three years. As you may know, the Interagency 

Council on Homelessness which Secretary Jackson chairs, has had 

a concerted effort to end chronic homelessness. It has involved the 

parties that you see here today, but other agencies as well. 

As we look at different communities across the country, and essentially every city and country in America are now involved in 

HUD’s Continuum of Care, so we are getting reporting now each 

year, the number of chronically homeless persons is beginning to 

decline in many communities across the country. And this is being 

reported separately from other sources, as well. 

Senator MENENDEZ. And the grade is? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. I would say the grade is a B+. 

Senator MENENDEZ. A B+? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. And I say that because we launched this initiative in about 2002, and it took a couple of years to help develop 

a number of housing units and services to engage this community. 

The chronic homeless focus is people living on the street, which is 

a very difficult population to serve. 

Senator MENENDEZ. You must have had a lenient grader when 

you were in school. Where I came from that would not have gotten 

a B+. 

One of the advocates that will testify later, several of the advocates that will testify later, have a series of recommendations 

which seem to me to be long-standing in nature, and this has been 

going on for some time. I wonder if you would respond to it. 

It says VA and HUD homeless programs are woefully underfunded and many homeless veterans are not served by them, one. 

Two, missing all together in the Federal housing continuum are 

affordable strategies targeted to low income veterans. 

Three, Congress and HUD should immediately fill the backlog of 

2,000 authorized but not yet allocated vouchers to the HUD Veterans Affairs Supported Housing and they should be increased to 

at least 20,000. 

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What do we say about those? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. Those are some good points. 

In terms of the first item, which is that we are woefully underfunded, and I can only speak for HUD obviously, we recognize that 

more money is needed to help solve this problem. So we have been 

requesting significant amounts of money. 

In 2006, we were appropriated a little bit less than we had requested but it was relatively close. We were appropriate approximately $1.3 billion. We have requested for 2007 a little bit more 

than $1.5 billion and were thrilled to see that both the House and 

the Senate marks, at this point, are nearly, not quite but nearly, 

matching that level. 

That extra almost $200 million will help contribute to this very 

issue of reaching out to those homeless veterans and other persons 

living on the streets who both need the housing as well as the services. 

You also mentioned the notion of how we could better integrate 

at HUD and perhaps other agencies, but how at HUD we could better integrate serving homeless veterans through mainstream programs. 

One approach that we have been taking is through something 

called the Consolidated Plan, which is the application that we have 

used at HUD for a number of years, as a consolidated application 

for a number of our larger formula programs such as the CDBG 

program and the Home program. 

In that we have embedded the very kinds of information that we 

look for annually in our homeless competitions so that communities 

can always remember and recognize the importance that we place 

on veterans. We highlight homeless veterans as one of the key populations that we intend and hope that all communities will serve. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Excuse me a moment. But they are in competition with anyone, everyone else who is in that category. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. They are. 

Senator MENENDEZ. So you make a mention of them and you 

hope that those communities will look at that. But they are in competition with everybody else in that category. And the advocates for 

those categories would say that they are woefully underfunded. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. Yes, you are exactly right. The statute that created our programs does take veterans, as well as a host of other 

subpopulations of the homeless that HUD is charged with serving. 

And so while we may not specifically and only serve one particular 

population, such as veterans, we do recognize it as an important 

one. 

For a number of years we saw that homeless veterans groups 

were not at the table, at the planning table, in deciding how funds 

would be awarded, to which kinds of groups. So we gave points in 

our competition if veterans groups were at the table. 

There are a number of different references in our application encouraging that veterans come, and it has really improved over 

time. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator ALLARD. I would like to continue to talk a little bit about 

the home purchase provisions that we have, Mr. Pedigo. 

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The down payment is a matter determined, I understand, by the 

borrower and the lender. And generally, I think, financial institutions allow a veteran to borrow with no down payment. My question is have you tracked loan performance according to the down 

payment amount? And if so, what have you found? 

We have looked at some of the provisions in other financial institutions and it seems like despite the credit rating, the amount of 

down payment reflects the ability to sustain a loan and not go bad 

on a loan. I wondered if you had any thoughts on that subject. 

Mr. PEDIGO. I would agree with that. Down payment is a key element in determining the potential risk of a mortgage loan. And 91 

percent of our loans are made without a down payment, which 

means 9 percent have some level of down payment. We have done 

analyses over the years that clearly show that the riskiest loans 

are the 91 percent where no down payment has been made and 

that the loans that had some level of down payment generally perform better. 

Senator ALLARD. Is that because—I guess your current amount 

of down payment or your GSE loan limit right now would be 25 

percent of $417,000; is that correct? Do I have the right figure 

there? 

Mr. PEDIGO. That is correct. Our maximum guarantee would be $104,250. 

Senator ALLARD. The reason that you have a down payment is 

that you cannot hardly get s home in that price range anymore. 

That would be under that range. They would have to pay some on 

their own and that would necessitate maybe some down payment? 

Mr. PEDIGO. With the VA program, you can get a $417,000 loan 

without making a down payment. 

Senator ALLARD. You can. 

Mr. PEDIGO. Yes. But the amount of guarantee that we would give to a lender making that loan would be $104,250 or 25 percent. 

Senator ALLARD. I see, and that is the reason for the—are you 

figuring—you are not figuring that in as it was a down payment, 

are you? 

Mr. PEDIGO. No, we do not. But from the lender’s standpoint, the 

guarantee is a substitute for a down payment because it protects 

them against risk. 

Senator ALLARD. Help me understand why it is that we have 

these fees that we apply at certain levels. You have a 2.15 percent 

of the loan if they pay less than 5 percent, 1.5 percent if they have 

a 5 or 9 percent down payment. Do you want to justify that to us, 

please? 

Mr. PEDIGO. You are referring to what we call the funding fee. 

Senator ALLARD. Yes. 

Mr. PEDIGO. Prior to 1982, veterans did not have to pay a funding fee to use the VA program. But in 1982, Congress passed a 

statute that required veterans to pay 0.5 percent. 

Senator ALLARD. So that is statutory. 

Mr. PEDIGO. That is statutory. And then over time Congress increased the funding fee. So that today, for a veteran using the program for the first time, if the veteran is not service-connected disabled, that individual must pay 2.15 percent of the loan amount. 

Senator ALLARD. On top of the interest that he would be paying? 

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Mr. PEDIGO. On top of the interest. But that amount is included 

in the loan for most veterans. 

Now for a veteran using the program a second or subsequent 

time, the statute requires a 3.3 percent funding fee. 

This funding fee generates a substantial amount of money, sufficient in fact to put us in a negative subsidy position for each of the 

last 3 years. So, essentially for the last 3 years the VA has not 

needed appropriations into its mandatory account in order to sustain program operations. 

The funding fee is most unfortunate. It started out being a nominal amount and it did not constitute a burden on veterans. But in 

my opinion presently, with the structure the way it is—— 

Senator ALLARD. It puts them above market rates. 

Mr. PEDIGO. Yes. It requires them to pay a substantial amount 

to use this benefit program. 

Senator ALLARD. Mr. Johnston and Mr. Dougherty, I am a strong 

believer in outcome measurements. I think the president refers to 

it as the PART program. In what ways are your programs focusing 

on outcomes and results? If you would both respond to that. 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. Mr. Chairman, we have the ability and have 

had the ability since 1987, when we started our homeless programs, to be able to identify every veteran who has been in a 

homeless-specific program. That gives us the ability to go back and 

to look and to see whether or not those veterans have relapsed, 

have gone back in. We obviously know what kind of health care 

services they have gotten. We have a significant amount of information because we are the health care provider for most of those 

veterans, as well. 

Senator ALLARD. The bottom line though, you are not on the list 

of agencies that has failed to participate in the PART program? Or 

for some reason or other, you got an unsatisfactory rating? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. No. 

Senator ALLARD. Mr. Johnston. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. In terms of HUD’s homeless assistance programs, 

we have very specific outcome measures. OMB included them on 

their website as model measures for other agencies to consider. We 

recently underwent the PART process and our score was announced in January. It was an effective score, the highest rating. 

Senator ALLARD. Very good. 

Mr. Dougherty, there was some hesitancy there on it. So if you 

find out otherwise, if you could get back and change your testimony 

with the Committee, we would appreciate that. 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. I will. 

Senator ALLARD. Senator Reed. 

Senator REED. Thank you, very much, Mr. Chairman. 

I want to follow up the question I addressed to Mr. Johnston, but 

also Senator Menendez’s line of testimony. 

Mr. Dougherty, you have had a lot of experience with the HUD– 

VASH program, which is essentially HUD monies for vouchers for 

shelter plus VA supportive services. The difference between shelter 

plus care, as you pointed out in a previous question and answer, 

and the HUD–VASH program is the HUD–VASH is veteran specific? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. That is correct. 

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Senator REED. So essentially what has happened is we took a 

program that could have had 2,000 vouchers and we merged it into 

another program to serve the whole spectrum of homeless in the 

country. Is that accurate? 

I guess my question to you, Mr. Dougherty, it seems to me that 

we need a lot more attention to homeless veterans and that, by requesting more resources to the HUD–VASH program we could target those resources to veterans. That is one question, if you agree 

or disagree. 

And the second, just your impression of how well the program 

worked because we received indications that this program was 

working exceptionally well, was making a real difference in, if not 

reducing the population of veterans, certainly preventing the escalation that we have seen. 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. Mr. Reed, you are absolutely correct that the 

HUD–VASH program, which started out as simply an agreement 

between the two departments, blossomed into what we think may 

be the most effective program we have. As I indicated in the beginning of the statement, our programs are really tied to that chronically homeless veteran. There are many homeless people in this 

country, including veterans, who bounce into homelessness, who 

come right back and can go on with their lives with minor interruption. 

Our programs are really geared to that veteran who, without 

health care and other support services, would remain homeless and 

would be a very significant drain on health care services and the 

criminal justice system and other kinds of things. 

What we have found is when we were able to get those veterans 

back to being clean and sober and getting their heads clear again, 

that the opportunity to live in long-term housing with a VA social 

worker as the case manager for them, they do not need intensive 

case services. The opportunity to have someone to come periodically 

to check on them in their housing, is a very effective system. 

It is so effective that although there are still, as Mark mentioned, some HUD–VASH specific vouchers, in some communities, 

others have come and said gee, VA, if you could provide case management services, we would identify vouchers specifically for veterans. 

So in our annual report we talk about, and he is right it is about 

1,500 HUD–VASH that are still around. But we almost have that 

same number of communities that have come forward with vouchers. 

The trouble with that is they could also withdraw their voucher 

support next year. The beauty of the HUD–VASH program is it 

gave both departments an opportunity to identify those resources 

for a long-term commitment. That commitment legally probably expired a long time ago but they have continued. 

Senator REED. The 1,500 HUD–VASH vouchers, about 1,500 that 

you have been able to withdraw from other community supporters, 

how many do you think we would need to—— 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. I would not try to give you a number right off 

the top of my head, but I can tell you that in the Grant and Per 

Diem Program we see about 16,000 to 18,000 veterans a year. 

Many of them are able to return to gainful employment and to 

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move on with their lives. There are a percentage of that total that 

comes through every year that need some kind of access to some 

supportive services with permanent housing. 

So we would gladly come back with some precise numbers. 

Senator REED. If you could. 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. But it is certainly a percentage of that total. 

Senator REED. What is troubling to me is we are trying to stretch 

limited dollars now, not over just the veteran population, but over 

a much bigger population and essentially pitting deserving individuals, some who were veterans who have a special, in my view and 

I think in the view of most Americans, special standing because of 

their service. 

I think we can do much better and I hope we could. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator ALLARD. Senator Menendez. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman 

Can I just nail this? So where is this recommendation that fulfilling the backlog of the 2,000 authorized but not yet allocated 

vouchers to the HUD–VASH program? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. I am not the best person to give a response today. 

The reason I say that is my responsibility at HUD is over the 

homeless programs. I do not have responsibly for the Section Eight 

program. But I would be more than happy to take back that excellent question and give you a written response. 

Senator MENENDEZ. I would appreciate you getting that to the 

chair. 

Mr. Dougherty, let me ask you, you have a 2-year transitional 

program for homeless veterans; right? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. Yes, sir. 

Senator MENENDEZ. How many people participate in that, roughly? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. In the past year we had about 16,000 to 18,000 

veterans that came through that program. We also have domiciliary care and some other residential care programs that we have. 

Senator MENENDEZ. That is in the past year, 16,000 to 18,000? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. That is in the past year. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Now when their 2-year transition ends, what 

is the rate of those who ultimately end up in long-term housing? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. The rate of independent housing, getting assured housing and having a place to stay on their own, many get 

it because they were able to gain gainful employment and have an 

economic stream to do that. Some of them get benefits, if you will. 

As I was mentioning a moment ago, 37 percent of homeless veterans who have applied for service-connected compensation have 

been awarded. Of that 37 percent, 22 percent have been rated 100 

percent service-connected disabled. That obviously gives them an 

income stream to get into housing that they would not and did not 

have, obviously, before that period of time. 

About 60 percent of the veterans that we see in the transitional 

housing program have employment and have some opportunity to 

move on. I cannot give you a precise number. 

Senator MENENDEZ. That language is very important, that they 

have income and an opportunity to move on does not mean that 

they have housing necessarily. 

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Mr. DOUGHERTY. That is correct. 

Senator MENENDEZ. My question is, which I assume that in this 

performance effort you want to know, after 2 years of transition, 

what happens in this individual, what is the percent of individuals 

of the 16,000 to 18,000 who ultimately go through the 2-year period, what percent ends up in housing, whether it is Governmental, 

Governmental-assisted or the private sector? Do we have any sense 

of that? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. Those that have gone through, we have found 

that about 80 percent have housing at the end, a year or more after 

they have completed the program. 

Senator MENENDEZ. 80 percent? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. Yes. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Do you follow them, how long they have 

housing for after? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. We follow many of them but we do not follow 

all. 

Senator MENENDEZ. What happens to the other 20 percent, 

which would be maybe 4,000 people? 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. Some of them relapse, some of them because of 

mental illness and substance abuse may return and need additional care. Some of them we just cannot track. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Let me give you an experiential factor from 

organizations in New Jersey that work with veterans and the transitional housing for homeless veterans. They say that their biggest 

challenge is finding these veterans some form of affordable permanent housing when their program comes to an end. I will give you 

an example. 

One of the veterans participating in the program served in Vietnam. After returning from service, he became homeless and spent 

23 years on the streets as an alcoholic. He is in transitional housing and he believes that is his road to recovery as do those that 

are helping him in the process. But he is almost at the end and 

there is no clear housing opportunity for him now. 

So this 2-year transitional process that ultimately does not end 

in some form of long-term housing opportunity is, at most, a stopgap measure if we do not ultimately achieve something at the end 

of the road. 

Mr. DOUGHERTY. Finding long-term housing is the most significant problem that we face. That is correct. 

Senator MENENDEZ. That would go back to speaking to the 

20,000 vouchers that is an opportunity to help people be able to 

live in private sector housing, having subsidized as they stand on 

their feet, hopefully for a record of time. It just seems to me that 

if we transition and we do not have any sense of how long people 

are able to stay in some form of housing that is long-term, at the 

end we are not doing our job in figuring out whether we are performing well. I would hope we would look at that. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator ALLARD. To the Committee members, we will go one 

more round. I have one question. You have one. So we will do a 

really short one round. 

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My one question would go to Mr. Pedigo again. What has been 

the trend regarding VA’s share of the mortgage market over recent 

years? 

Mr. PEDIGO. That is a tough question to answer. We do not track 

market share. However, there are analysts in the industry who do. 

Some of them would say that we had a 5 to 6 percent market share 

back in the mid-90s and that that has fallen to 2 to 3 percent. 

Similarly the FHA program has lost that percentage of market 

share. 

However, I have a slightly different opinion than some of the analyst, and that is that we appear to have lost market share primarily because the market has grown. The universe of the mortgage market is far greater now, especially in the last 5 to 6 years, 

with the advent of some very exotic products in the subprime mortgage arena, as well as the conventional loan arena. Things that we 

have all heard of like interest only loans and payment option loans 

that are extraordinarily risky. These programs have developed and 

have expanded the universe. And because we have to operate under 

statutory authority, we have not been able to change our program. 

So what we are finding is that the number of loans that we do, 

on balance, over the last 6 to 8 years has remained fairly stable. 

But the universe of the industry has expanded. And so it gives the 

appearance that we have lost market share, when in reality we believe we are serving as many veterans as we have at any point in 

the last 10 years. 

Senator ALLARD. Do we have a declining number of veterans that 

would be interested in home loans? 

Mr. PEDIGO. I believe that we do have a declining number, and 

I think that is driven in large part by the funding fee structure 

that we discussed earlier. I think that veterans who have sufficient 

money to make a down payment, consider that they have options 

to the VA program. And so many of them opt to get another type 

of loan in order to not have to pay that funding fee. 

Senator ALLARD. I see. Thank you. 

Senator Reed. 

Senator REED. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Johnston, you indicated before that you were pleased that 

the House and Senate appropriators have done a better job of fulfilling HUD’s request in these areas. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. They always do a very good job, of course. 

Senator REED. I am sure they do. They are just impeccable people. 

But you mentioned before that the most recent budgets are closer 

to your requests? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. Yes. 

Senator REED. I want to ask you, what is your request to OMB? 

Or alternatively stated, has OMB resisted giving resources to these 

programs, like the HUD–VASH and the Shelter Plus Care? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. OMB is wonderfully supportive. 

Senator REED. So HUD has not asked for more money? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. We have, in working with OMB and having an 

eventual request, we have always had a great relationship with 

OMB in determining an amount that both parties—I mean, the administration as a whole—feels very, very good about. 

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Senator REED. I think from some of the comments we have 

heard, the administration might feel good about it but most homeless advocates and a lot of homeless people do not feel good about 

it. It is not personalizing it, it is just expressing what should be 

obvious in the context of our discussions about homelessness. We 

have got a program here, HUD–VASH, which works. It is key to 

a lot of progress for veterans. 

Yet it has been, I think principally because of budget reasons, 

combined or competing against other groups. 

One test could be to go back and to ask OMB for more than 2,000 

vouchers for HUD–VASH and then let them fund Shelter Plus 

Care at similar agreed-upon levels. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. I guess what I am very impressed with over the 

last four or five years is looking at the requested level of the administration on HUD’s homeless assistance relative to the eventual 

funding that goes for other kinds of programs. There is typically an 

increased request above the previous level appropriation, despite 

all of the constraints and the pressures that we have these days 

in terms of providing funding. 

So I guess, in short, I would say I am just very impressed with 

the amount that is requested and very pleased with the levels 

being appropriated. 

Senator REED. Relatively speaking, I would tend to agree with 

you. I have seen more attention to homelessness issues than many 

other responsibilities of HUD. 

But nevertheless, I think we have a huge problem, particularly 

veterans. That is the point of this hearing. We have a program that 

works very well and we are not asking for the resources that I 

think could be used effectively to help these veterans. 

So perhaps OMB could be even more generous next time when 

you ask them. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. It will pass that along. 

I would like to mention that this past year, I am just looking at 

the numbers for the awards that we made. We had 254 requests 

from projects that wanted to specifically and almost completely 

help veterans only. Of those 254 requests, many of these would be 

Shelter Plus Care programs, we were able to fund 231, essentially 

90 percent of these requests coming in. 

As I look over the last 10 years on this issue about veterans’ 

projects being helped, being funded by HUD, the numbers have 

been going up. I think that is a very encouraging thing. And I 

think it is in part because they really are at the table at this point. 

Other groups had always been there, but in at least some communities, many communities, veterans were not always there. 

So there is more attention locally to serving veterans than there 

has been the past, in my view. 

Senator REED. Thank you. 

Senator ALLARD. Senator Menendez. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator ALLARD. I want to thank this panel for coming by and 

testifying before the Committee. We appreciate your testimony. 

A couple things I would emphasize. I am pretty sure the Committee will have additional questions that they will want to submit. 

I would ask that you return those back to the Committee within 

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10 days, if you would please. We will proceed on to the second 

panel. Thank you. 

Let me see if I can get your names correct here. I apologize. It 

is Beversdorf; is that correct? 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. That is correct. 

Senator ALLARD. And Banaszynski. Very good. 

Ms. BANASZYNSKI. Banaszynski, yes. 

Senator ALLARD. We will start off with Cheryl Beversdorf of the 

National Coalition of Homeless Vets, and then we will proceed to 

Barbara Banaszynski of Volunteers of America. 

STATEMENT OF CHERYL BEVERSDORF, CHIEF EXECUTIVE 

OFFICER, NATIONAL COALITION FOR HOMELESS VETERANS 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. Thank you, Chairman Allard, for holding this 

hearing on the housing needs of veterans. It is very welcome. 

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans represents over 

250 community-based and faith-based organizations across the Nation that work with veterans experiencing homelessness. 

Let me begin by talking about why veterans become homeless. 

Actually, it happens for the same reasons as persons who have not 

served in the military. Veterans’ incomes are too low to obtain affordable housing or enough affordable housing is not in their community. 

Another reason is that they may not have an income because of 

a disabling health condition or an injury, including service-connected disabilities, which prevents them from holding a job. Or 

they may not have access to health care to treat these conditions. 

Additionally they may be ineligible or have barriers to receiving 

public or veteran income assistance. They cannot secure a job that 

pays a living wage because they lack job skills that are transferable to the civilian market. 

Many veterans become homeless because of problems experienced 

before they went into the military, such as poverty within the family, lack of educational opportunities or a history of social problems. 

A large number of veterans who become homeless struggle with 

post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, which is due 

to high occupational stress. Veterans may also have addictions, 

which were incurred or worsened by military service. 

These conditions, when left untreated, interrupt the veterans’ 

ability to keep a job, establish savings and maintain family harmony. As a result, they may be asked to withdraw from the family’s housing. 

Also, the veteran’s social and professional networks may have 

been broken due to extensive mobility while they were in the service or lengthy periods away from their hometown and their civilian 

jobs. 

All these conditions that I have described make it difficult for 

veterans to receive referrals to jobs or share housing with someone 

who will take them in temporarily while they get back on their 

feet. 

So now let me talk about the Federal programs. The VA and 

HUD homeless programs such as Grant and Per Diem, McKinneyVento and HUD–VASH, play very vital roles in creating a housing 

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safety net for these veterans whose living arrangements have 

reached the bottom. 

Each of these programs, however, is woefully under-resourced 

and many homeless veterans are not served by them. I cannot emphasize enough that the funding levels of these programs do need 

to be increased. In particular, we call upon Congress to immediately fund the backlog of 2,000 authorized but not yet allocated 

HUD–VASH vouchers. Ultimately, Congress should increase the allocation of such vouchers to at least 20,000. While a major increase, 

this figure still represents just 5 percent of the estimated 400,000 

veterans who experience homelessness annually. 

I wish to turn to the subject of permanent housing for the Nation’s 1.5 million low income veterans who are at the greatest risk 

among all veteran subgroups of becoming homeless. To prevent 

homelessness among these veterans, there is no more obvious response than to ensure their access to permanent affordable rental 

housing so they are never without a safe place to live. 

Today America is experiencing an affordable housing crisis and 

low income veterans are among its victims. Among the millions of 

Americans facing affordable housing challenges, veterans have 

never received the attention they need and deserve. For example, 

over 60 years ago when the Congress passed the GI Bill, it granted 

the assurance of home ownership opportunities specifically to veterans through the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program. On a personal note, I would add that since I am a veteran—I was an Army 

nurse during the Vietnam era—I was a recipient of the GI loan. I 

bought my first condo with that VA loan. 

The problem has been one of no assurance of rental housing opportunities for those veterans for whom home ownership was not 

a realistic option due to low income or savings levels. And that has 

been the situation ever since. 

NCHV calls on Congress to resume where it left off over a half 

century ago and pledge a comparable GI-level commitment to affordable housing opportunities for our Nation’s low income veterans. Congress must take bold steps and establish new affordable 

housing programs and strategies that are targeted directly to veterans. 

The launch of such new initiatives is consistent with the long 

history of our Nation to establish benefits that are unique to veterans in recognition of their service. With this action, we are 

pleased to call to the Subcommittee’s attention the Homes for Heroes Act, a bill that would establish veteran-specific permanent affordable housing programs and authorities within HUD. 

We believe all Federal departments, not just the VA, bear responsibility for supporting our Nation’s veterans, and the Homes 

for Heroes Act would give HUD the tools to do so. We urge Congress to pass this ground-breaking legislation. 

In conclusion, let me say that every one of our Nation’s military 

heroes deserves the opportunity for a safe, affordable and permanent place to call home. None of us should rest until this goal becomes a reality for each veteran who served our Nation. 

I will be happy to answer any questions. 

Senator ALLARD. Thank you. Ms. Banaszynski. 

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STATEMENT OF BARBARA BANASZYNSKI, DIRECTOR OF 

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT, VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA 

Ms. BANASZYNSKI. Thank you, Chairman Allard, for inviting me 

today, and ranking member Reed, and members of the Subcommittee. 

My name is Barbara Banaszynski. I am the daughter of a now 

deceased World War II veteran and the mother of a son who is currently serving in the Third Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, and 

stationed now at Fort Stewart, Georgia. 

I work for Volunteers of America. I work for a national nonprofit 

faith-based organization that is focused on meeting the needs of 

veterans. We are a member of the National Coalition of Homeless 

Veterans. I am happy to be here with Cheryl today. 

I want to talk a little bit about the 13 years of work I have done 

with veterans in the Appalachian regions of Kentucky, Tennessee 

and West Virginia. 

We have an over—while we are not Colorado and we do not have 

the total number of veterans that Colorado does, we have a very 

high percentage of veterans who live in the Appalachian regions, 

mostly because serving in the military was a way in which to gain 

employment when there was not much in the mountain regions for 

employment. 

So many of our veterans come to the military looking for that 

American dream of learning skills, serving our country. Many of 

those veterans come back to our Appalachian regions to live in 

their communities. They come back to us with many of the things 

that Cheryl had told you. 

But one of the things that they come back to us with is almost 

universally they have been honorably discharged. They have served 

their country with distinction and are eligible for many benefits. 

But in some cases and in many cases, without the nonprofit 

world and the faith-based organizations serving as a bridge of 

those organizations, they are not able to connect themselves with 

those kinds of benefits. That is a bridge that Volunteers of America 

has been serving for a long period of time. 

Most of our urban veterans have experienced long-term homelessness. Most of our rural veterans have lived in substandard 

housing for many years or are living in encampments out in the 

open. 

I have a great deal of respect for both HUD and for our Department of Veterans Affairs and Pete Dougherty, as an example, just 

because they have—they do serve—they provide many programs 

that are very useful to us. 

Like the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, we encourage 

the Congress to pass the Homes for Heroes Act, especially the 

VASH provision. I want to tell you why. 

Housing is wonderful. But housing without services for these 

chronically homeless veterans is not doable. They lose that housing. The HUD–VASH program guarantees that there will be VA 

support services and case management and a wide range of services available either by contract or direct provision of the VA. That 

is very important. That is a very big difference between the Shelter 

Plus Care program and the HUD–VASH program. 

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The Shelter Plus Care program while very useful, and I certainly 

would not want to see it go away, asks the community to provide 

the support services. And as Senator Reed knows, while we are trying to get many things done, the SELHA Act, we have a lack of 

support services. There are no more support services. The VA has 

a host of support services that can be provided to veterans and we 

highly hope that you will act on that. 

The other thing that I certainly think that is happening is that 

many of the veterans that we serve will never be able to participate 

in the traditional HUD or VA loan programs. Their area median 

income, wages that they are earning fall below 30 to 50 percent of 

the area median income, making them ineligible as a credit risk 

from most VA loans. Even if there were not the question of the 

service fees attached to those. 

In the traditional market, if I would go to buy a home and was 

asked to provide three points, I would go to another loan dealer. 

I would go to another banker until I could find a loan that did not 

offer that kind of point process. 

We are urging Congress to pass an affordable housing fund as 

part of Senate Bill 190, the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory 

Reform Act. This housing legislation targeted to veterans is important for the housing needs of low income veterans that I am talking 

about, and they can also be—these low income veterans can get 

their needs meant through this type of legislation. 

Again. affordable, decent, safe housing for all is the goal, especially for veterans that have served their country. 

Congress should also preserve funding for new housing to end 

homelessness. These too, many of our chronically—in recent years 

HUD has devoted an increasing proportion of McKinney-Vento 

funding to permanent housing. But again, it is a competition in the 

open market and we have to be—the veterans groups have to stand 

up and be counted in their continuum of care in order for veterans 

to get the services that they need out of McKinney-Vento. 

I appreciate the opportunity to be here today and I appreciate 

the opportunity to continue the opportunity to work with veterans. 

Thank you. 

Senator ALLARD. Thank you both for your testimony. We will try 

a round or two of questions here and see how we come out on time. 

Many times facilities that serve veterans also serve nonveterans. 

And perhaps maybe you have been involved with many of these organizations. It sounds like you have. 

Is there a bookkeeping problem when you have two different 

types of clients out there that you are trying to serve? 

Ms. BANASZYNSKI. Senator Allard, many programs do mix populations. But I think it is in the engagement process and in many 

times when we go forward with services veterans find their way to 

more veteran-specific programs. The Grant and Per Diem program 

is an example. We operate one in Lexington, Kentucky. And 

through Pete Dougherty’s assistance, we operate that on a VA 

grounds, in a building that was no longer used by VA. 

Which is, if I may add, another usage of Government resources 

that the Congress could make available to veterans groups, by assessing what is happening in their buildings and what they have 

available and making it possible for faith-based and nonprofit 

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groups to utilize those buildings to serve both the transitional 

housing needs and the permanent housing needs of veterans. 

I do not think ourselves, in Kentucky and Tennessee, we operate 

veteran-specific programs. Where we would and might likely operate nonveteran-specific programs if we were to have the Homes for 

Heroes Act passage and we had a 202 program kind of aimed at 

veterans, we would tend to use some of those monies to place persons in permanent housing, in mixed developments and multifamily developments, and not necessarily have 100 units of veteran-specific housing. 

Senator ALLARD. Ms. Beversdorf, do you have any comment? 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. All of the organizations that NCHV represents 

serve only veterans. So that really is who we focus on. 

What is frustrating, and I echo what Pete Dougherty was saying, 

based on my visits with these community-based organizations, it is 

really interesting how many veterans have gone through the program, which is supported by Grant and Per Diem, and received the 

supported services they need. They are ready to move out, they 

have jobs. These people are gainfully employed. They are living in 

these facilities and want to move out. Unfortunately, in their case, 

they do not have the necessary incomes because the kinds of jobs 

that they have that would allow them to go into housing do not 

necessarily provide them with the right credentials or qualifications to make them eligible for housing that is sponsored by HUD. 

Senator ALLARD. Thank you. 

I want to direct my next question to the so-called boutique programs. These are specialized programs that might be provided to 

veterans. The question I have is if we get too many specialized programs out there, when it comes to funding priorities do we end up 

pitting one segment of the veterans population against another veterans? And if we do that, how do we prioritize those? Ms. 

Beversdorf? 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. That is a difficult question, made all the more 

so by the fact that we are talking about different kinds of veterans. 

The NCHV did a mini survey last fall in which we surveyed close 

to 50 of our members to get a sense of what the trends are. What 

we are seeing is the following: first of all, the needs of homeless 

veterans who have been in community-based organizations for an 

extended length of time and are primarily Vietnam veterans are 

changing drastically. Some of them have been homeless for a long 

time or have been living in some kind of a setting where they are 

still getting support services because they have not been able to 

live independently. But they are aging now. And so we are trying 

to figure out how best to assist them. 

At the same time, we have two new cohorts that are rapidly 

growing. One cohort, about whom we frequently are asked, is the 

returnees from Iraq and Afghanistan. 

A subset of that, is an increase in the number of female homeless 

veterans. Whereas when I was serving in Vietnam there were not 

a lot of women veterans coming back who ended up homeless, that 

is changing because of increased roles now of women in combat. 

But it is hard to answer your question, which is how do we 

prioritize. What I am sharing with you is that those last two cohorts may not be homeless now and, in fact, research shows it 

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sometimes takes between eight and 12 years before these folks actually become homeless after they have exhausted other resources 

they have. 

So I think right now we are looking at a number of different cohorts, which we are going to have to treat in different ways with 

respect to the needs that they have. 

Senator ALLARD. Ms. Banaszynski. 

Ms. BANASZYNSKI. I would like to just make a comment. I think 

that one of the things that we need to do is pick some priorities. 

And one of them is certainly the chronically homeless veteran, that 

person who has been on the streets the longest. That is where both 

VA and HUD have been focusing, and many of our programs have 

been focusing. 

However, I think that one of the things that we also need to do 

is close that front door. We need to do some prevention. When that 

person is discharged from the military, he needs to have the forms 

that he needs to prove that he is honorably discharged. He needs 

to have access to medical care with VA, which is often a problem 

in many communities, getting the transportation. 

We have an office in Pikeville, Kentucky that serves veterans. 

But the closest veterans hospital to Pikeville in their region is in 

Lexington, Kentucky, which is a lengthy trip over the mountains. 

Most of our veterans end up in a West Virginia facility in Johnson 

City for medical care just because of the transportation difficulties. 

I think many of the veterans are not being prepared adequately 

for the transition. They do not know what they are eligible for and 

they do not do not know to whom they should seek help if over the 

period of time their readjustment is not sufficient. 

I have a great deal of respect for the VA benefits specialists who 

work closely with me to get the correct forms in hand to prove 

what discharge they have, in many cases helping me upgrade discharges to the honorable status if that is possible, and also to connect people with disability benefits quickly. 

One other segment of the population that I think is underserved 

that we do not know about, and I applaud the Department of Labor 

for offering some demonstration grants, I think probably prodded 

by Congress, to serve that incarcerated veteran. Volunteers of 

America has two of the four demonstration grants to serve incarcerated veterans. And if you think housing is tough to find for the 

poor veteran, try to find permanent housing for the veteran that 

has a felony conviction and a long period of incarceration. 

We need a lot of different kinds of housing options, and home 

ownership I think is a goal for many. But in the short-term, from 

transitional housing we need to have permanent rental housing 

available and HUD–VASH will do that. 

Senator ALLARD. Senator Reed. 

Senator REED. Thanks very much, Mr. Chairman. 

And thank you ladies, not only for your testimony but for your 

devoted service to the veterans. I appreciate it very much. And 

thank you for your service as a veteran. 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. Thank you. 

Senator REED. It seems to me we have come to a conclusion that 

we need more housing structurally and more services to support 

these veterans. Is that fair? Is that the bottom line? 

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Ms. BEVERSDORF. Yes. 

Ms. BANASZYNSKI. I think that would be a fair description. 

Senator REED. And also, I think that we have a program that 

seems to work very well, the HUD–VASH program. And it now 

seems to have been subsumed by the Shelter Plus Care program. 

Can you comment from the field—do you sense that, as a result, 

the effort to help veterans has been eroded a bit because of the failure to fully fund HUD–VASH and now turning to Shelter Plus 

Care? Ms. Banaszynski. 

Ms. BANASZYNSKI. In my community HUD–VASH vouchers are 

not available. There are none. They are just not available. 

I would like to say that, again, Shelter Plus Care is a valuable 

resource. We use it for many people, many persons in our communities, including veterans. However, what I said before is that the 

support services come from the local community. We make the 

pledge for those to do Shelter Plus Care. We are happy to do that 

when we have them available. But in many cases we are running 

short of supportive services. 

And the beauty of HUD–VASH is that the supportive services 

come from the organization that serves veterans, from the VA Administration, which would be very helpful. It does not mean the VA 

will do it alone, but maybe in partnership. 

I know you have been a sponsor, Senator Reed, of SELHA, which 

lays out the case that there are not enough support services to 

serve anybody necessarily, and not alone with homeless veterans. 

So the support services component that VA could offer would be 

important. 

Transitional housing is an important resource. Grant Per Diem 

program is an important resource. But the ability to place persons 

post-transitional housing is very, very difficult in my community. 

Senator REED. The point you make is that the VA would best be 

able to provide services to homeless vets, not only in terms of logic 

but efficiency. The VA presumably would have some contacts with 

many of these veterans already, either at a clinic or health services. So the notion that they would also provide other supportive 

services seems to be a very efficient way to deliver the services, 

rather than having that veteran go to another community group or 

maybe two other community groups, which they must do through 

Shelter Plus Care. 

Ms. BANASZYNSKI. Yes, sir. It seems efficient to me. 

Senator REED. How do we deliver the services? And do we need 

more HUD–VASH vouchers? 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. I would definitely concur with the comment 

that, as I said, the program has been on the books for the last four 

or five years and we do not know where those vouchers are. 

Senator REED. We are trying to find out. We hope Mr. Johnston 

will be back with the information. 

The other point that you raised, this notion of different cohorts 

of veterans, I think we have to look at realistically. Where you had 

a mass Army in World War II of people coming from across the 

country with various skills, they came into a system where you had 

the VA loans, which seemed to work very well for them. 

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We might have a different challenge now with the emerging veterans population. And as you pointed out, particularly Vietnam-era 

veterans. 

Not only do we have the challenge of the different cohorts of veterans, but we also have the obvious challenge of funding. Please 

comment on the different veteran cohorts and whether we need different approaches to these cohorts. 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. As I mentioned, with respect to the Vietnam 

era veterans, we are talking about an aging population. About people who may have been able to overcome their mental health issues 

and their substance abuse issues, are aging and still need to have 

a place to live. 

As the Grant and Per Diem program, it is a limited program, and 

so there is no other place, outside perhaps some VA facilities, for 

these veterans to live. And if they never were meaningfully or gainfully employed in some kind of a position that allows them to afford 

rental housing, we have got a real problem. 

As I said, with respect to the women veterans, this is also a 

whole new area that we have to deal with because they have their 

own special set of problems. Oftentimes they have children. One of 

the things the VA has certainly shown is the fact that they often 

have had sexual trauma. They have perhaps experienced sexual 

trauma or sexual harassment. And so they are dealing with a 

whole different type of mental problem and perhaps also substance 

abuse problems. And as I said, they may also have children who 

do not qualify for VA benefits. 

At this point, the VA has only eight programs throughout the 

country for homeless women veterans and there is a waiting list at 

all of them. And while these programs are not under this Committee’s jurisdiction, funding for the special needs of these women is 

certainly going to be necessary. 

And then, of course, there are the young people returning from 

Iraq and Afghanistan. And the kinds of situations that they are experiencing are just phenomenal in terms of the things that they 

have seen and witnessed in the battlefield. Many people call the 

NCHV office to say ‘‘I am homeless’’ or ‘‘help me, where can I go?’’ 

NCHV gets as many as 300 calls a month on our 800 toll-free 

line from people who say they do not have a job, they do not know 

where to go, they do not know where to turn, they are sleeping on 

somebody’s couch. They have not yet exhausted all of their resources, and luckily the VA and the Department of Labor have 

been addressing those needs through the Grant and Per Diem and 

HVRP programs. But the problem is, there is still a large number 

of veterans who are not even going to the Grant and Per Diem programs. They do not even know about them. They are not ready to 

go to the VA. 

So these issues are not going to go away. And we are going to 

have to deal with it. But in terms of housing, I think HUD has to 

begin to have more of a focus on what is happening with respect 

to our Nation’s veterans. How many veterans are out there and actually are housed in HUD housing? Do we know that? I am not 

sure whether that is the case. 

As we find out where people are living and who is living in HUD 

housing, we need to ask about military status so that we know if 

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that person is a veteran or not. Maybe there needs to be more policy guidance from HUD with respect to whether we are looking 

hard enough for these veterans and making sure that they do get 

special recognition and special attention. 

In fact, I would also venture to suggest that maybe HUD needs 

to have a liaison within the agency to actually handle veterans’ 

needs. I believe that such a position has not been filled for quite 

some time. 

So these are all kinds of things that would really raise the visibility of the needs of veterans. 

Senator REED. Thank you. My time has expired. 

Senator ALLARD. Senator Menendez. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I want to thank both of you for your testimony. 

Ms. Beversdorf, I asked the Secretary to grade our programs. I 

know you are a nurse originally by profession and now your advocacy here. How would you grade them? 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. Which programs are you talking about? 

Senator MENENDEZ. Our overall effort here in terms of—I have 

listened to your testimony, I have read your testimony. Is B+ a fair 

grade? 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. I hate to put grades on things for the record. 

Senator MENENDEZ. I get recorded all the time, so do not feel 

badly. 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. I just think we have a long way to go. 

Senator MENENDEZ. I have a problem listening to your testimony 

and hearing that people who have honorable discharges and who 

work every day in honorable jobs and are veterans cannot find a 

place to live. It just seems to me that that cannot be a grade that 

is as high as a B+. 

I do not understand when 200,000 veterans are homeless on any 

given night and 400,000 over the course of a year experience some 

form of homelessness. And we go on with 2,000 vouchers that have 

been authorized but not allocated, and that is a B+. 

I do not understand the answer that I got to my question, which 

I think is somewhat amorphous, about how we follow up on people 

after transitional housing to find out whether they really have 

housing at the end and for how long they have housing or whether 

they just recycle in the process, which would tell us a lot about 

whether our policies are effective or not. That is not a B+. 

So I appreciate your testimony. To me it is compelling insofar as 

I think a grateful Nation does much better than that. 

And I am really concerned about the next generation of Iraqi and 

Afghani veterans who I hear consistently from who return and find 

themselves with difficulties in their employment, and therefore difficulties with a place to live. And that is a whole new universe 

above and beyond all of those who have served over a long period 

of time. I think we have some significant challenges ahead. I think 

we should recognize those challenges and try to deal with that. 

I would love to be giving out B+’s but I just do not think that 

is the grade that I would be giving. 

Ms. BEVERSDORF. Senator, if I may comment, I think one of the 

biggest problems or concerns I have is overall the American public 

is not aware of homelessness among veterans. I have been working 

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with NCHV for about a year and I have to say that most of the 

time when I tell people who I work for the comment is twofold. The 

first is ‘‘I did not know there were any homeless veterans.’’ And 

secondly, if there are, ‘‘certainly the VA must take care of those 

people.’’ From this hearing we know already that because of the resources and the number of homeless veterans, the second assumption is not true. 

But the other thing that is more frustrating is the perception of 

who the homeless veteran is. Oftentimes there is an assumption 

that the homeless veteran is only the panhandler on the street, the 

person who holds up the little cardboard sign asking for a handout. 

Some are, in fact, under the bridges and on the streets. When, in 

fact, there are so many out there who are living already in transitional housing. 

But there are those who are really striving to get their lives back 

in order in terms of getting the help they need, on health needs, 

on trying to get a job, on trying to find a house. 

And that is why I really appreciate that you are having this 

hearing, Senator, today to raise the American people’s awareness 

of what this problem is today and what it is going to be in the future if we do not do something about it. 

Senator MENENDEZ. I appreciate your statement. 

I will just tell you, from where I come from, the reality is that 

housing authorities that are at the tail end of—or at the frontlines, 

I should say, of providing, for example, some of these programs, 

they do not have the wherewithal—I will not even say they do not 

have the desire. But they certainty do not have the wherewithal to 

actively go out for veterans and proselytize them to the opportunities that exist because they are already overwhelmed with the 

housing challenges they meet. 

So to suggest that just by giving some type of recognition in a 

wide spectrum of those who need it, who need housing, and to say 

that veterans are part of that, that that is going to take care of the 

problem, that is not going to take care of the problem. The previous 

panel made some mention of that as one of the things. That has 

just adding more people to a very difficult and finite universe of opportunities for housing. That is not going to proactively help veterans at the end of the day. 

So I look forward to hopefully the Committee being advocates, 

Mr. Chairman, of trying to find out some efficient and effective 

ways in which we can expand the universe, and even looking at 

setting aside for veterans specifically within this housing opportunity. 

Thank you. 

Senator ALLARD. I have one more question and then we will go 

to other members. Maybe one more question area. And I want to 

ask a few questions myself about veterans rental housing. 

Ms. Beversdorf, you stated in your testimony that veterans, and 

I quote, ‘‘Veterans of working age and without disabilities are not 

served through existing rental housing assistance programs due to 

the program designs.’’ 

How do you mean that? Is it because they do not give preference 

to veterans? Or are there some other flaws there? 

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Ms. BEVERSDORF. It is really that there is no particular preference to veterans. That is what makes it so difficult. There are 

certainly other categories of homeless people who are equally as deserving with respect to looking for housing. Unfortunately, there is 

no special recognition as far as that veterans category is concerned. 

So that is what I had in mind. 

I do not know if you wanted to add something. 

Ms. BANASZYNSKI. I would like to add, too, that one of the things 

that you will find, not just veterans, but if you look at the jurisdictions around the country there is not one community, State or city 

in the country where a person working full-time at minimum wage 

can afford housing in this country. 

So it should come as no shock to us that veterans who are coming back with some limited skills and who are trying to increase 

those skills would have difficulty gaining access to the private 

housing market. I want to know why subsidy has become a dirty 

word in this country. I got my college education subsidized. I got 

my mortgage subsidized. Veterans certainly have earned the right 

to subsidy in this country. And if it takes permanent housing rental subsidies to get people in—there is not a lack in every market 

of affordable housing, although in many markets affordable housing is not available even if we had a subsidy to apply to the person’s needs. 

But I think that we have to look at a whole host of things. My 

organization provides four homeless veterans reintegration 

projects, which are employment and training programs. It is kind 

of the chicken and the egg. Can you get them a job if they do not 

have a house to keep their clothes? It is one and the other. So we 

end up having to find places for people to live in order to stabilize 

their employment. 

And then, when they are full-time working persons and they 

earn less than the housing wage or the cost of housing in their 

area, they are not able to get into the housing market and we are 

not able to get for them the subsidies that they need to make rental housing affordable and for them to get it in many markets in 

the country. 

Senator ALLARD. Senator Reed. 

Senator REED. I want to thank you both for very, very thoughtful 

testimony. I concur with your comment that most people do not see 

this as a big problem. They do not think in terms of homeless veterans. 

But one of the other revelations today is the number of very poor 

veterans. I think there is a presumption, particularly looking at the 

most recent generation of veterans who have to have a GED, high 

school, or college education to get in and then they are trained so 

well, et cetera, that there is a perception that they must be making 

enough money to at least rent an apartment or even get into the 

home ownership. So I think your testimony has been very revealing. 

Ms. Banaszynski, I think, too, we subsidize a lot of things around 

here. So I do not think we have to be necessarily toxic to subsidizing veterans. I think we should be doing that. 

So we can do more and we should do more. Thank you very 

much. 

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Senator ALLARD. OK, once again, I would like to thank all of our 

witnesses for being here today. I found this opportunity to learn 

more about our veterans housing programs both interesting and informative. 

As Subcommittee Chairman, I intend to become more active in 

this area of our jurisdiction. Your testimony will be helpful as we 

continue to explore these programs. 

The record will be remain open for 10 days should members wish 

to submit any additional questions to the witnesses. Witnesses, we 

would appreciate your prompt response to the questions and would 

ask that you please respond to them within 10 days. 

Thank you to everyone for attending the hearing of the Housing 

and Transportation Subcommittee. The Subcommittee is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:21 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

[Prepared statements and response to written questions follow:] 

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PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ 

Chairman Allard, Ranking Member Reed, my fellow Colleagues, thank you for 

your leadership in holding this hearing and for offering the opportunity to discuss 

the housing needs of our nation’s veterans. 

Today, as we brave men and women risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, 

the need to reassess and understand how we can be more effective in helping these 

brave troops when they retire from active duty is all the more pertinent. I am disappointed that 25 percent of our country’s homeless are the very men and women 

who so proudly served our country. Particularly upsetting is that in my State of 

New Jersey, there are about 8,000 homeless veterans. 

My State faces particularly challenging circumstances with less and less affordable housing and waiting lists for Section 8 vouchers. Over the past few years our 

food pantries and soup kitchens have seen a significant increase in demand by families and individuals who are spending more of their monthly income on housing 

leaving them with less to spend at the grocery store. Considering the unique needs 

of our nation’s veterans and the difficulty to access affordable housing, it is no wonder that we have so many veterans struggling on the streets. Clearly we must 

refocus our efforts to ensure that we are doing our part for our veterans, especially 

after the sacrifice they have made for our country. 

As I’ve traveled around New Jersey, I’ve been hearing from troops about the confusion and challenges they face during the transition from receiving services at the 

Department of Defense to the Department of Veterans Affairs. In response, yesterday I introduced legislation to address the lapse in health care and access to services that many face during this difficult process. The bill would expand the important work done by Veteran Service Organizations and other non-governmental organizations by providing funding for ‘‘navigators’’—individuals who can assist in a 

serviceperson’s transition between the DOD and VA healthcare systems to ensure 

a positive continuum of care. 

The ‘‘navigator’’ concept is not new. It is similar to the Patient Navigator demonstration program I introduced and which was subsequently enacted into law. 

Often those individuals most in need, particularly those service members who are 

seriously injured, suffering from psychological illnesses, female service members, 

and those in the National Guard and Reserves, have the hardest time accessing the 

care or services they deserve. Designating a specialist or ‘‘Sherpa’’ to help those who 

could fall through the cracks and get left without care, is the kind of preventive 

measure I hope will keep many veterans from becoming homeless in the first place. 

On any given night across the country, there are more than 200,000 homeless veterans. This is unacceptable. We need to be doing a better job of helping theses honorable Americans access housing resources and increase federal support for these 

services. 

I look forward to the testimony to learn more about what we are currently doing 

for our veterans and to find out where we can improve to ensure that no one goes 

without a place to call home. Thank you Mr. Chairman. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MARK JOHNSTON 

DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR SPECIAL NEEDS, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

AUGUST 2, 2006 

Chairman Allard, Ranking Member Reed, Members of the Subcommittee, I am 

pleased to be here today on behalf of Secretary Alphonso Jackson and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Secretary recognizes the responsibility America has to its veterans especially those who are homeless. 

It is estimated that veterans account for approximately one quarter of the homeless population. For the past 20 years HUD has served homeless veterans as well 

as the other homeless subpopulations in the United States. To better serve this population, in 1994 HUD developed the Continuum of Care planning and grant process, 

which calls for communities to develop local plans to solve homelessness. Continuum 

of Care is a community-led effort that involves a diverse group of organizations, including state and local governments, public housing agencies, non-profit providers, 

foundations, and homeless and formerly homeless persons. The Continuum identifies the community’s housing and service needs, as well as the existing inventory 

to address those needs. The Continuum then assesses remaining needs and determines how to best address them by proposing a comprehensive plan and specific 

project requests for HUD funding. Since 1994, the Continuums have proven to be 

an effective coordinating body for fighting homelessness; among the reasons for their 

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effectiveness are the broad-based partnerships they have forged at the local level. 

HUD is committed through this Continuum of Care to ending Chronic Homelessness. 

To underscore HUD’s continued commitment to serve homeless veterans, this 

year’s Continuum of Care application materials encourage organizations that represent homeless veterans to be at the planning table and require that communities 

identify the number of homeless persons who are veterans so that each community 

can more effectively address their needs. In collaboration with the Department of 

Veterans Affairs, HUD also strongly encourages grant applicants to use VA’s 

CHALENG data in assessing the needs of homeless veterans within their community. 

In 2005, HUD awarded nearly $1.3 billion in targeted homeless assistance. Homeless veterans are eligible for all of the Department’s homeless assistance programs, 

and HUD awarded funding to 90 percent of all of veteran-specific applications received. HUD has also established a Veteran Resource Center (HUDVET) in consultation with national veteran service organizations. HUDVET’s goal is to provide 

veterans and their family members with information on HUD’s community-based 

programs and services. It is the Department’s hope that, equipped with this knowledge, armed forces personnel and veterans can become more involved in the community-based planning and decision-making process as well as utilization of services 

and local resources. 

HUD is involved with a number of interagency initiatives that focus on solving 

homelessness in this country. One of these initiatives is the VA’s Secretarial Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans, an important advisory group that has addressed chronic homelessness among veterans. HUD is also involved with the Collaborative Initiative to Help End Chronic Homelessness, a joint initiative with 

HUD, VA and HHS. HUD provided the housing needed for homeless persons, while 

the VA and HHS provided the needed supportive services to help them stabilize 

their lives. 

Another promising joint initiative between HUD and the Department of Labor 

that serves homeless veterans is a demonstration to provide housing and needed 

employment assistance. Local partners in this demonstration provide additional 

needed services such as health care, education, and life skills. 

In consultation with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, chaired by 

Secretary Alphonso Jackson, HUD developed a special initiative to help persons who 

have been homeless for years and are also chronically inebriated. HUD provided 

funding for permanent housing, and community partners provided needed supportive services. Twelve programs in eleven cities received funding. Homeless veterans are among those served by these homeless initiatives. 

In addition to these initiatives, HUD participates in national homeless conferences. For instance, as the Director of HUD’s homeless programs, I was in Denver this week speaking at the Department of Labor’s Veterans National Grantee 

Conference, along with my colleagues from the VA and Department of Labor. These 

conferences provide an opportunity to collaborate with other organizations that 

share the goal of solving homelessness. 

HUD has developed two technical assistance guidebooks to benefit homeless veterans. Coordinating Resources and Developing Strategies to Address the Needs of 

Homeless Veterans describes programs serving veterans that are effectively coordinating HUD homeless funding with other resources. The second guidebook, A Place 

at the Table: Homeless Veterans and Local Homeless Assistance Planning Networks, 

describes the successful participation of ten veterans organizations in their local 

Continuums of Care. Both of these guidebooks are available on HUD’s website. 

The Administration is committed through the Continuum of Care process to ending chronic homelessness, as well as solving homelessness among veterans and all 

Americans. HUD will continue to work with federal, state and local partners to this 

commitment. 

Mr. Chairman, I will be glad to address any questions the Subcommittee may 

have. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF KEITH PEDIGO 

DIRECTOR OF LOAN GUARANTY, DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

AUGUST 2, 2006 

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to 

appear before you today to discuss the VA Loan Guaranty Program. In my testimony I would like to highlight VA’s commitment to meeting the housing needs of 

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our nation’s veterans. I am pleased to be accompanied by Mr. Pete Dougherty, Director, Homeless Veterans Programs. Mr. Dougherty will discuss issues pertaining 

to homeless veterans. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs home loan program serves a clientele which 

is diverse in many ways. The only common denominator of this clientele is service 

in the Armed Forces of the nation. Since the inception of these programs in 1944 

the objective has been to assist eligible veterans to become homeowners. Veterans 

are assisted by increasing their competitiveness in the marketplace for credit. The 

VA programs are intended to benefit men and women because of their service to 

the country. 

The Loan Guaranty Program provides a guaranty to lenders making loans to veterans and servicemembers to purchase homes. Other important program benefits include making direct loans to Native American veterans living on trust lands, and 

providing Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grants to severely disabled veterans. 

Additionally, services and assistance are provided in coordination with the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) program for disabled veterans eligible for Independent Living Services and SAH benefits. 

Since the home loan guaranty program was enacted, as part of the original Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (the GI Bill), VA has guaranteed over 18 million 

home loans totaling almost $900 billion to veterans to purchase or construct a home, 

or refinance another home loan on more favorable terms. The VA home loan program has made mortgage credit available to many veterans whose loans otherwise 

would not have been made. 

VA guaranteed loans are made by private lenders, such as banks, savings & 

loans, or mortgage companies to eligible veterans for the purchase of a home which 

must be for their own personal occupancy. To get a loan, a veteran must apply to 

a lender. If the loan is approved, VA will guarantee a portion of it to the lender. 

This guaranty protects the lender against loss up to the amount guaranteed and allows a veteran to obtain favorable financing terms. There is no maximum VA loan, 

but lenders will generally limit VA loans to $417,000. This is because lenders sell 

VA loans in the secondary market, which currently places a $417,000 limit on the 

loans. In certain high cost areas, such as Hawaii and Alaska, Guam and the U.S. 

Virgin Islands, this conventional loan limit is currently $625,000. For loans up to 

this amount, it is usually possible for qualified veterans to obtain no downpayment 

financing. A veteran’s basic entitlement is $36,000 (or up to $104,250 for certain 

loans over $144,000). Lenders will generally loan up to 4 times a veteran’s available 

entitlement without a downpayment, provided the veteran is income and credit 

qualified and the property appraises for the asking price. 

Currently, eligible veterans and service personnel may obtain loans for the following purposes: 

• To buy or build a home; 

• To buy a residential unit in a condominium project; 

• To repair, alter or improve a home; 

• To refinance an existing home loan. 

• To buy a new or used manufactured home and/or lot; 

• To buy and improve a manufactured home lot on which to place a unit owned 

and occupied by the veteran; 

• To improve a home through installation of a solar heating and/or cooling system 

or other energy efficient improvements; 

• To refinance a loan currently guaranteed, insured or made by the VA for the 

purpose of lowering the interest rate; and 

• To refinance a manufactured home in order to purchase the lot on which the 

home is or will be placed. 

Like other homeowners, some veterans experience financial hardships that affect 

their ability to make loan payments. When this occurs, VA helps veterans retain 

their homes through supplemental loan servicing efforts. VA offers financial counseling, and may even intervene directly with the lender on behalf of the veteran to 

work out a repayment plan. In limited circumstances, VA buys the loan from the 

holder and allows the veteran to make payments directly to VA. In the event of foreclosure, VA usually acquires the property from the mortgage loan holder. The property is then transferred to a private contractor to be sold on VA’s behalf. 

Successful interventions help veterans and save substantial amounts of money by 

avoiding claim payments. In 2005, VA avoided claim payments totaling $175 million 

through supplemental servicing efforts. It should be noted that while this savings 

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is not part of the program’s operating budget account, it exceeds the total amount 

requested for 2007. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. I greatly appreciate being here today 

and look forward to answering your questions. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF PETER DOUGHERTY 

DIRECTOR OF HOMELESS VETERANS PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

AUGUST 2, 2006 

Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Committee, I am pleased to be here today to 

discuss the Department of Veterans Affairs’ programs and services that help homeless veterans achieve their housing needs. I am pleased to be with Mr. Keith Pedigo, 

Director of VA’s Loan Guaranty Service. Thank you for inviting us to testify today. 

Homelessness for any person tugs at our conscience; however, for those who have 

honorably served our nation in the military, homelessness should be inconceivable. 

VA’s commitment is, and remains, ending chronic homelessness among veterans. To 

meet that goal, VA has made, and continues to create opportunities to bring together those veterans in need of assistance with the wide range of services and 

treatment VA provides. 

As the largest provider of direct services to homeless people in the nation, VA provides health care and services to more than 100,000 homeless veterans each year. 

We do this by aggressively reaching out and engaging veterans in shelters and in 

soup kitchens, on the streets and under bridges. By not waiting for veterans to contact us and by proactively offering services, VA helps some 40,000 more veterans 

each year than would otherwise know of their eligibility for assistance. We connect 

homeless veterans to a full complement of VA health care and benefits, including 

compensation and pension, vocational rehabilitation, loan guaranty and education 

services. 

We continually work to reach and identify homeless veterans and encourage their 

enrollment in VA’s health care system. Once they are enrolled, we furnish timely 

access to psychiatric evaluations and treatment; engagement in treatment programs 

for substance use disorders; and, access to quality primary health care. Our performance measures help ensure that homeless veterans receive comprehensive follow-up health care. In addition, it is extremely important that these veterans are 

seen by mental health specialists and a case manager. Thus, our objective is to help 

these veterans receive coordinated needed care and other VA benefits, which, in 

turn, furthers their chances of obtaining and maintaining independent housing and 

gainful employment. At the least, the provision of such VA assistance should enable 

most to live as independently as possible given their individual circumstances. 

We work very closely with our partners at the Department of Labor’s Veterans’ 

Employment and Training Service to ensure those homeless veterans who want and 

need employment have an opportunity to become productive, tax-paying members 

of society. This is very important because we understand from many formerly homeless veterans that having an opportunity for gainful employment was vital to their 

being able to overcome psychological barriers that contributed to their homelessness. 

With the support of Congress, VA continues to make a significant investment in 

the provision of services for homeless veterans. We expect to spend $225 million this 

year (fiscal year 06). These costs cover homeless veterans treatments and programs 

to assist homeless veterans. 

The President’s budget request for FY 2007 calls for a nearly $20 million increase 

above that level. Services and treatment for mental health and substance use disorders are essential both to the already homeless veteran and to those at risk for 

homelessness. VA’s overall mental health funding increased by $339 million this 

year, and we use those funds to enhance access to mental health services and substance use treatment programs. Increasing access to and availability of mental 

health and substance use treatment services is critical to ensure that those veterans 

who live far away from VA health care facilities are able to live successfully in their 

communities. 

Equally important is the work of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). Mr. 

Pedigo will provide you with details of the Loan Guaranty Services programs including those that are of particular assistance to homeless veterans. I want to focus on 

the Compensation and Pension Service that strives to provide timely processing and 

payment of benefits claims to homeless veterans. As a result of VBA’s concerted efforts, thousands of veterans entitled to benefits receive them. 

As part of VA’s efforts to eradicate homelessness among veterans, we work in a 

variety of venues with multiple partners at the Federal, state, territorial, tribal and 

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local government levels. We have hundreds of terrific community non-profit and 

faith-based service providers working in tandem with our health care and benefits 

staff to improve the lives of tens of thousands of homeless veterans each night. We 

have more than 4,000 beds for homeless veterans available under our domiciliary 

care and other VA operated residential rehabilitation programs. 

We are finalizing a one-year, follow-up study of 1,350 veterans discharged from 

VA’s residential care programs. Results indicate that we are achieving long-term 

success for the well-being of these veterans, with four out of five veterans who have 

completed these programs remaining appropriately housed one year after discharge. 

Through such effective, innovative and extensive collaboration, VA is able to maximize the opportunities for success. 

We firmly believe that the best strategy to prevent homelessness is early intervention. As the Committee knows, veterans returning from the present conflicts in Iraq 

and Afghanistan have two years of eligibility for VA health care at no cost for conditions possibly related to their combat service. We believe that this eligibility policy 

allows our clinical staff to identify additional health problems that may, if left untreated, contribute to future homelessness among those veterans. This policy is the 

best option to treat those in need today and prevent more acute problems later. 

Interagency Council on Homelessness, Intergovernmental and Local Relationships 

VA is an active partner with nearly all Federal departments and agencies that 

provide services to homeless veterans. We participate in a variety of interagency collaborative efforts to assist homeless veterans and continue to actively participate in 

the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH). Secretary Nicholson 

is the immediate past chair of the ICH, and VA has participated in each of ICH’s 

cabinet-secretary level meetings. During Secretary Nicholson’s tenure as chair of the 

ICH, VA hosted regular meetings of the ICH Senior Policy Group. While Secretary 

Nicholson’s term as ICH Chair ended last year, VA continues its participation in 

interagency and collaborative initiatives. As Director of the Homeless Veterans Programs, Secretary Nicholson asked me to serve as VA’s representative to the Council’s Senior Policy Working Group. These efforts have brought the level of veteran 

involvement in state and local plans to end homelessness to an unprecedented level. 

The ICH has worked closely with VA, and has also encouraged the development 

of state and local plans across the nation to address both the needs and services 

available to veterans. To date, this is demonstrating positive results as we increasingly see states and local communities include VA employees, state and county veteran service officers, veteran service organization members and veteran specific 

service providers in both the planning and implementation of local strategies to end 

chronic homelessness. 

As part of an ongoing initiative, VA has worked closely over the last three years 

with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to assist the chronically homeless with 

housing, health care and benefits coordination. Under this initiative, funding was 

provided to eleven communities that developed quality plans to house and provide 

wraparound services. As the result of our collaboration, nearly 1,500 persons have 

been seen, and nearly 600 persons housed. Thirty percent of those receiving services 

under this initiative are veterans. This effort is based on the premise that housing 

and treating those who are chronically homeless will decrease total costs for health 

care, emergency housing, related social services and justice system costs. VA is 

pleased to be a partner in this effort. We are also pleased to lead the effort to evaluate this project and look forward to sharing our findings with you when they become 

available. 

Local communities are our front lines—the places where we meet and provide 

services to veterans. For that reason, VA has a long tradition of engaging and working with local providers in their communities. VA collaborates annually with communities across the United States in Project CHALENG (Community Homelessness 

Assessment, Local Education and Networking Groups) for veterans. At regularly 

scheduled CHALENG meetings, VA works with faith-based and community homeless service providers; representatives of Federal, state, territorial, tribal and local 

governments; and homeless veterans, themselves. Our meetings and our annual reports are designed to identify met and unmet needs for homeless veterans, aid in 

the community effort to aid homeless veterans, and to develop local action plans to 

address those identified needs. 

CHALENG is integral in enabling VA medical centers and regional offices to 

strengthen their partnerships with community service providers. This leads to better coordination of VA services as well as the development of innovative, cost-effective strategies to address the needs of homeless veterans at the local level. It shows 

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us what is being done effectively and what pressing unmet needs remain. This also 

helps us to establish, as part of local needs, the number of veterans who are homeless on any given night. While there are still far too many veterans among the 

homeless, we are making progress, and their numbers are coming down. Ten years 

ago, based upon the best available estimates, there were as many as 250,000 veterans among the homeless on a given night. Last year we found there were less 

than 200,000. This year, we estimate the number of homeless veterans on any one 

day will be less than 195,000, which represents a decline of better than 20 percent 

over the last six years. This progress demonstrates to us that this scourge is not 

unmanageable and that our collective efforts are realizing success. We are confident 

that our continued efforts will achieve our goal of ending chronic homelessness 

among veterans. 

During the past five years VA, the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services and Labor, and the Interagency Council on 

Homelessness have sponsored a series of policy academies. The purpose of these 

academies is to bring together a broad group of professionals from a variety of disciplines who work with homeless populations in their respective states to improve 

the coordination of statewide efforts to aid all homeless. This effort has been very 

successful. And many states have translated this experience into concrete improvements in the coordination of their benefits and services at the local level, i.e., within, between, and among the cities and counties in their states. VA is pleased to have 

been an active partner in this effort. Senator Martinez chaired the US Interagency 

Council on Homelessness when this effort began and I would be remiss in not noting 

his leadership in getting this concept into concrete actions. This approach developed 

by the National Governor’s Association has aided every state to develop a coordinated plan to address homelessness in their states. 

VA Involvement in Stand-Downs 

VA’s involvement in stand-downs is another avenue by which VA continues its collaborative outreach at the local level through coordination of our programs with 

other departments, agencies, and private sector programs. Our calendar year 2005 

report was recently completed and last year VA recorded participation in approximately 100 stand-down events in 36 states. In calendar year 2005, VA, along with 

hundreds of veteran service organization representatives, community homeless service providers, state and local government offices, faith-based organizations, and 

health and social service providers, provided assistance to nearly 17,000 veterans. 

Of note is an increase in the number and percentage of veterans who attended these 

events. The latest information shows that more than 1,700 spouses, overwhelmingly 

women, and more than 1,100 children attended these events. More than 13,000 volunteers and VA employees participated in these events last year. 

Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program 

VA’s largest program involving local communities remains our Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program. As you are aware, this highly successful program allows VA to provide grants to state and local governments, and faith-based 

and other non-profit organizations in developing supportive transitional housing 

programs and supportive service centers for homeless veterans. These organizations 

may also use VA funds to purchase vans to conduct outreach and provide transportation for homeless veterans to needed health care and employment services. 

Last year, this program achieved one important goal: to authorize funding for at 

least one transitional housing program in each state. We did this in part by targeted 

funding to states that had no or limited veteran-specific transitional housing program. We are continuing to reach out to tribal and territorial areas to ensure increased opportunities for these programs to operate in those locations. Since the program was authorized in 1992, VA has obligated more than $300 million to the program. These funds have helped to develop close to 10,000 transitional housing beds 

(of which 78 percent are operational) and 23 independent service centers and to purchase 180 vans to provide transportation for outreach and connections with services. 

We are reviewing applications based upon the latest Notice of Funding Availability and the Secretary will announce those selections in September. We are hopeful that with this latest round of funding we will be able to add between 500 and 

1,000 new transitional housing beds across the nation. 

Technical Assistance Grants 

With enactment of Public Law 107–95, VA was authorized to provide grants to 

entities with expertise in preparing grant applications. We have awarded funding 

to two entities that are providing technical assistance to non-profit community and 

faith-based groups that are interested in seeking VA and other grants relating to 

serving homeless veterans. We have awarded grants to the National Coalition for 

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Homeless Veterans (NCHV) and Public Resources to aid us in this effort. We are 

hopeful that this effort, which we are evaluating regularly, is helping to connect veteran specific service providers to other governmental and non-government resources. 

Grants for Homeless Veterans with Special Needs 

VA also provides grants to VA health care facilities and existing grant and per 

diem recipients to assist them in serving homeless veterans with special needs 

(women, including women who have care of dependent children, chronically mentally ill, frail elderly and terminally ill). We initiated this program in FY 2004 and 

provided special needs funding to 29 organizations totaling $15.7 million. 

Grants to Meet National Fire and Safety Codes 

VA has awarded grants to existing grantees to assist them in meeting national 

fire and safety codes. VA has offered funding three times and awarded a total of 

$5.36 million for this program. These grants have been awarded to all existing transitional housing that applied for funding. VA Medical Centers’ Fire and Safety Engineers have worked closely with existing grant recipients to identify any code violations and to estimate the cost of correcting any such deficiencies. We believe we 

have been able to address all requests to meet fire and safety needs. 

Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Programs (RRTPs) 

VA’s Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans (DCHV) Program, which was recently renamed as the ‘‘Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Program,’’ provides a full range of treatment and rehabilitation services to many homeless veterans. Over the past 17 years, VA has established 34 DCHV programs providing 

1,873 beds. Since 1987, there have been over 71,000 episodes of treatment in the 

DCHV program. VA continues to improve access to the services offered through 

these programs. In FY 2005, DCHV programs treated 5,394 homeless veterans, 

while VA funded the development of nine new DCHV programs offering a total of 

400 new beds. In FY 2006, VA funded the development of two additional DCHV programs totaling 100 beds. In addition to the DCHV program, homeless veterans receive treatment and rehabilitation services in the Psychosocial Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (PRRTP). Currently there are 72 PRRTP programs with 

a total of 2,020 beds. 

Staffing at VBA Regional Offices 

Homeless Veterans Outreach Coordinators (HVOCs) at all VBA regional offices 

work in their communities to identify eligible homeless veterans, advise them of VA 

benefits and services, and assist them with claims. The coordinators also network 

with other VA entities, veteran service, organizations, local governments, social 

service agencies and other service providers to inform homeless veterans about 

other benefits and services available to them. In FY 2005, VBA staff assisted homeless veterans in 34,631 instances. They contacted 4,247 shelters, made 4,803 referrals to community agencies, and made 7,416 referrals to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Department of Labor’s, Homeless Veterans Reintegration Programs (HVRP). 

Since the beginning of FY 2003, regional offices maintain an active record of all 

compensation and pension claims received from homeless veterans. Procedures for 

the special handling and processing of these claims are in place. From FY 2003 

through FY 2005, VBA received 13,833 claims for compensation and pension from 

homeless veterans. Of those claims, 56 percent were for compensation and 44 percent were for pension. Of the compensation claims processed, 37 percent were granted, with an average disability rating of 44.20 percent. 9.9 percent of claimants were 

rated at 100 percent disabled. Of the total claims denied, 48 percent were due to 

the veteran’s disability not being service connected. The average processing time for 

all compensation claims of homeless veterans was 151 days. Of the pension claims 

processed, 73 percent were granted. Twenty-one percent of the claims denied were 

due to the veteran’s disability not being permanent and total. The average processing time for all pension claims of homeless veterans was 102 days. 

Multifamily Transitional Housing Loan Guaranty Program 

Public Law 105–368 authorized VA to establish a pilot program to guaranty up 

to 15 loans or $100 million, whichever first occurs, for multifamily transitional housing. Since September 2002, Claude Hutchison, Jr., Director of VA’s Office of Asset 

Enterprise Management, has been the lead for the Department in implementing the 

program. Many complex issues, often varying from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, surround implementation, and VA has worked closely with veteran service organizations, veteran-specific housing providers, faith-based organizations, clinical support 

service programs, VA medical care staff, state, city and county agencies, homeless 

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service providers, and finance and housing experts. We are also using consultants 

to assist us with our evaluation of potential sites and providers of housing services. 

VA has issued two final commitments for guaranteed loans for transitional housing projects that will, when completed, provide 285 new beds for homeless veterans. 

Those projects are: Catholic Charities of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, with 141 beds; 

and, Vietnam Veterans of San Diego, San Diego, California, with 144 beds. The 

Catholic Charities’ project is under construction and is expected to open and be serving veterans some time this fall. Vietnam Veterans of San Diego is expected to close 

on its guaranteed loan by the end of the year, which leaves funding available for 

up to thirteen remaining program loans or until the remaining $92.1 million in program funds have been guaranteed. 

Coordination of Outreach Services for Veterans At-Risk of Homelessness 

VA, together with DOL and with additional assistance from the Department of 

Justice (DOJ), has helped develop demonstration projects providing referral and 

counseling services for veterans who are at risk of homelessness and are currently 

incarcerated. Currently, VA and DOL have seven sites providing referral and counseling services to eligible veterans at risk of homelessness upon their release from 

correctional institutions. While the majority of these demonstration projects work 

with state prisons, our collaboration includes one demonstration project with a Federal Bureau of Prisons institution, and another with a county jail. Local staff from 

both the VHA and VBA are aiding veterans at each demonstration site receive information about available VA benefits and services. 

Our commitment to these demonstrations programs is strong. We believe that 

many of these veterans will, with assistance, return to productive lives. While the 

number of incarcerated veterans is approximately 10–15 percent of the prison population, it is expected that these joint Federal efforts will assist many veterans who 

would otherwise be at risk for homelessness upon their release. Moreover, after 

their release, we are providing a needed continuum of services to these veterans, 

chiefly through the provision of transitional housing made available through the 

Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program or residential care in VA domiciliary care programs and other places as needed. DOL continues to provide funding 

under its Homeless Veterans Reintegration Programs (HVRP) for the Incarcerated 

Veterans’ Transition Program (IVTP). VA and DOL are reviewing this program 

carefully and will provide a report on its effectiveness. 

HUD–Veterans Affairs Supported Housing (HUD–VASH) 

VA recognizes HUD’s long-standing support of the HUD–VASH program. This 

very successful partnership links the provision of VA clinical care with permanent 

housing in order to assist the recovery of chronically homeless, mentally ill veterans. 

HUD and VA hope to continue this valuable program, subject to the availability of 

resources. 

Summary 

VA continues to make progress on addressing both prevention of, and treatment 

for, the homeless. Each year we provide our annual report to the Congress that outlines our activities for homeless veterans. VA is collaborating closely with other Federal agencies, state and local governments and community-based organizations to 

ensure that homeless veterans have access to a full range of health care, benefits 

and support services. We still have much to do to end chronic homelessness among 

veterans in America, and we are eager to work with you to meet that challenge. 

Developing appropriate links to health care, housing, benefits assistance, employment and transportation are all components that help bring these veterans out of 

despair and homelessness. We appreciate all of the assistance the Congress gives 

us to aid this noble effort. 

Mr. Chairman that concludes my statement, I am please to respond to any questions you or the Committee members may have. 

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PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHERYL BEVERSDORF 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NATIONAL COALITION FOR HOMELESS VETERANS

AUGUST 2, 2006 

Homelessness Among Veterans 

• Nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night; more than 400,000 

experience homelessness over the course of a year. 

• Like their non-veteran counterparts, veterans are at high risk of homelessness 

due to a lack of access to comprehensive health care, extremely low or no livable 

income and an extreme lack of affordable housing. 

• In addition to these shared factors, a large number of homeless veterans experience problems that are directly traceable to their experience before or during 

their military service or to their return to civilian society without appropriate 

transitional supports. 

• Preventing and ending homelessness among veterans requires general responses of benefit to all homeless persons and persons at risk for homelessness 

and specialized responses targeted to homeless veterans. 

Permanent Housing for Veterans 

• VA and HUD homeless programs are woefully under-funded and many homeless veterans are not served by them. 

• Missing altogether in the federal housing continuum are affordable housing 

strategies targeted to low-income veterans. 

• Congress and HUD should immediately fill the backlog of 2,000 authorized but 

not yet allocated vouchers to the HUD–Veterans Affairs Supported Housing 

(HUD–VASH) program, and ultimately increase to at least 20,000 the number 

of HUD–VASH vouchers. 

• Congress should enact the Homes for Heroes Act (S. 3475/H.R. 5561), legislation 

to develop and expand permanent housing opportunities for very low-income 

veterans. 

Introduction 

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans appreciates the opportunity to testify before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation at its hearing on meeting the housing needs of veterans. 

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV), established in 1990, is a 

nonprofit organization with the mission of ending homelessness among veterans by 

shaping public policy, promoting collaboration, and building the capacity of service 

providers. NCHV’s over 250 member organizations in the states and territories provide housing and supportive services to homeless veterans and their families, such 

as street outreach, drop-in centers, emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent housing, recuperative care, hospice care, food and clothing, primary health 

care, addiction and mental health services, employment supports, educational assistance, legal aid and veterans’ and public benefit advocacy. 

The VA estimates that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night; 

more than 400,000 experience homelessness over the course of a year. Conservatively, one of every three homeless adult males sleeping in a doorway, alley, box, 

car, barn or other location not fit for human habitation in our urban, suburban, and 

rural communities has served our nation in the Armed Forces. Homeless veterans 

are mostly males (2 percent are females). 54 percent are people of color. The vast 

majority are single, although service providers are reporting an increased number 

of veterans with children seeking their assistance. 45 percent have a mental illness. 

50 percent have an addiction. 

America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, Korea, the Cold War, 

Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America, Afghanistan, and Iraq. 47 percent of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam Era. More than 67 percent served our nation for at least three years. 

Male veterans are 1.3 times as likely to become homeless as their non-veteran 

counterparts, and female veterans are 3.6 times as likely to become homeless as 

their non-veteran counterparts. A random survey of homeless veteran service providers conducted in November 2005 by NCHV suggests the homeless veteran population is changing in profile. Results of the survey identify three veteran subpopulations that may present significant increases in demand for services in the immediate 

future: aging Vietnam veterans, women veterans, and combat veterans of America’s 

current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

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Like their non-veteran counterparts, veterans become homeless when their incomes are too low to obtain affordable housing in their community or when there 

is an insufficient stock of affordable housing available where they live. In some 

cases, their incomes may have diminished because of a disabling condition or injury—including service-connected disabilities—preventing them from holding a job. 

They may be ineligible for or have barriers to receiving public or veteran income 

assistance, or be unable to secure a job that pays a living wage because they lack 

appropriate job skills transferable to the civilian market. They may also have had 

issues before entering the military, including poverty, lack of educational opportunities, an unstable family background or a history of social problems. In addition to 

these shared factors, some veterans at risk of homelessness live with post traumatic 

stress disorders and addictions acquired during or exacerbated by their military 

service. These conditions can then interrupt their ability to keep a job, establish 

savings, and in some cases, maintain family harmony and remain in the family’s 

housing. Veterans’ social and professional networks may have been fractured due 

to extensive mobility while in service or lengthy periods away from their hometowns 

and their civilian jobs, leading to difficulty returning to work or in sharing the housing of others. These problems are directly traceable to their experience in military 

service or to their return to civilian society without appropriate transitional supports. 

Ending homelessness among veterans requires public commitment and action to 

ensure their access to permanent housing, livable incomes, and health security. This 

must be accomplished both through general responses of benefit to all homeless persons and persons at-risk of homelessness and through specialized responses targeted 

to homeless veterans. 

There is no more obvious a response to preventing homelessness among veterans 

than to ensure low-income veterans’ access to permanent affordable housing so that 

they are never without a safe place to live in the first place. 

Permanent Housing for Veterans 

Over 60 years ago, when Congress passed the GI Bill, it provided an assurance 

of homeownership opportunities for veterans through the VA Home Loan Guaranty 

Program. However, Congress made no such comparable assurance to affordable 

rental housing opportunities for our nation’s low-income veterans, and still has yet 

to do so. 

The VA Home Loan Guaranty Program is the principal federal veterans’ housing 

program. It helps veterans finance the purchase of homes with favorable loan terms 

and at a rate of interest competitive with the rate charged on other types of mortgage loans. The Home Loan Program—effective as it is—does not meet and was not 

designed to meet the housing assistance needs of all veterans, especially veterans 

without resources to purchase a home such as veterans experiencing homelessness. 

At the other end of the federal housing continuum, VA and HUD homeless programs such as VA Homeless Provider Grant and Per Diem, HUD McKinney-Vento 

Homeless Assistance, and HUD–Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD–VASH) 

play vital roles in establishing a housing safety net for veterans whose living arrangements have tumbled to the depths. Each of these programs is woefully underresourced and many homeless veterans are not served by them. Funding for these 

programs should be increased. 

Missing altogether in the federal housing continuum are affordable housing strategies targeted to low-income veterans. 

Congress has not yet granted the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—or any federal department—the statutory authority to establish permanent 

affordable housing programs targeted to low-income veterans. Accordingly, there is 

no national rental housing assistance program targeted to low-income veterans. Veterans are no longer a federal priority population for federally-subsidized housing assistance. (They once were.) Veterans of working age and without disabilities are not 

well-served through existing rental housing assistance programs due to their program designs. 

In those areas where it has discretion, HUD has underperformed when it comes 

to veterans. Of greatest consequence, HUD has discontinued its requests for or contribution of Housing Choice Vouchers to the HUD–VASH program, the only federal 

affordable housing assistance program targeted to any veteran population, in this 

case homeless veterans with disabilities. 

With all of these gaps in housing support for both low-income veterans and homeless veterans, it is apparent why many veterans are experiencing an affordable 

housing or homelessness crisis. It is imperative that Congress take immediate action to remedy the deficit in preventive and response strategies. Recommended steps 

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include increasing the number of Housing Choice Vouchers allocated to the HUD– 

VASH program and passing the Homes for Heroes Act. 

The Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act of 2001 (P.L. 107–95) codified the HUD–Veterans Affairs Supported Housing (VASH) program (at 42 U.S.C. 

1437f (o)(19), which heretofore had existed via a Memorandum of Agreement between HUD and VA. The HUD–VASH program provides permanent housing subsidies and case management services to homeless veterans with mental and addictive disorders. Under the program, VA screens homeless veterans for program eligibility and provides case management services to enrollees. HUD allocates rental 

subsidies from its Housing Choice Voucher program to the VA, which then distributes them to the enrollees. Rigorous evaluation of the program indicates it significantly reduces days of homelessness for veterans with mental and addictive disorders. 

Under the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act of 2001, Congress 

authorized HUD to allocate 500 additional HUD–VASH vouchers in each of FY 2003 

through FY 2006. By 2006, this would have amounted to 2,000 additional vouchers 

targeted to chronically homeless veterans. Regrettably, HUD did not request funding for, and Congress did not appropriate funds for, these additional HUD–VASH 

vouchers in any of its budget submissions for those fiscal years. Nor did it request 

funding for the vouchers in its FY 2007 budget. 

Accordingly, we call Congress to immediately fund the entire backlog of 2,000 

HUD–VASH vouchers. Ultimately, we recommend Congress authorize and appropriate funds for a dramatic increase in HUD–VASH program to 20,000 vouchers, 

which while a significant increase is still only a mere five percent of the number 

of veterans who experience homelessness annually. When growing the program, 

Congress should add budget authority explicitly for these vouchers so that they 

truly add affordable housing capacity rather than merely displace other needy persons with homeless veterans. 

Beyond HUD–VASH, we call on Congress to take bold steps and establish new 

affordable housing initiatives targeted to low-income veterans as well as to increase 

such veterans’ access to existing housing programs. The establishment of low-income 

veteran-specific permanent affordable housing initiatives is entirely consistent with 

the long history of our nation to establish programs and benefits unique to veterans 

in recognition of their service to the nation. 

We are pleased to support the Homes for Heroes Act (S. 3475/H.R. 5561), legislation with the purpose of developing and expanding permanent housing opportunities 

for very low-income veterans. The Homes for Heroes Act would establish new programs pertaining to veterans within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. All federal departments—not solely the Department of Veterans Affairs— 

bear responsibility for supporting our nation’s veterans. The Homes for Heroes Act 

would give HUD the tools to do so. 

The Homes for Heroes Act consists of seven substantive sections. Section 2 establishes a position of Special Assistant for Veterans Affairs within HUD. Section 3 authorizes the HUD Secretary to establish a supportive housing program for very lowincome veteran families. HUD would provide housing assistance to such veteran 

families via planning grants, capital advances, project rental assistance, and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations and consumer cooperatives proposing to 

develop such housing. VA would provide funding for supportive services to residents. 

Section 4 authorizes an increase in budget authority under the project rental assistance component of the Housing Choice Voucher program to finance 20,000 rental 

assistance vouchers for homeless veterans. Section 5 requires states and localities 

to include veterans as a special needs population in their public housing agency 

plans and their comprehensive housing affordability strategies. Section 6 exempts 

from calculation of a family’s rental payment for federally assisted housing the 

amount of income the family receives from VA compensation and benefits. Section 

7 authorizes the HUD Secretary to establish a technical assistance program to assist veteran service providers on federally assisted housing matters. Section 8 requires HUD to issue an annual report on its programs and activities pertaining to 

veterans. 

Each of these provisions responds to either: an obvious deficit in affordable housing stock or access to such stock for low-income or homeless veterans; a practical 

barrier to veterans’ access to affordable rental housing intended to serve all Americans; or a missed leadership opportunity by HUD. We urge Congress to pass this 

path-breaking legislation. 

Conclusion 

Every one of our nation’s military heroes deserves the opportunity for a safe, affordable, and permanent place to call home. The National Coalition for Homeless 

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Veterans looks forward to continuing to work with Congress, the Administration, 

and other stakeholders to ensure that our nation does everything necessary to make 

this goal a reality for each veteran. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF BARBARA BANASZYNSKI 

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT, VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA

AUGUST 2, 2006 

Chairman Allard, Ranking Member Reed, and Members of the Subcommittee— 

thank you for inviting me to testify this afternoon. My name is Barbara 

Banaszynski, and I serve as the Director for Program Development for Volunteers 

of America. I am the daughter of a World War II veteran, now deceased—and the 

mother of a son serving in the 3rd Infantry Division, currently stationed at Fort 

Stewart, Georgia. As a child, my family benefited greatly from Veterans Administration (VA) assistance—my father completed his college education thanks to the GI 

Bill and purchased our family home with VA benefits. 

Since January, 2006, I have worked with the national office of Volunteers of 

America. During the previous thirteen years, I worked at the local office of Volunteers of America that serves Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. This portion 

of Appalachia is home to many veterans in need. Let me describe these veterans 

to you. 

Almost all the veterans we serve have honorable discharges, but after extended 

periods of homelessness or living in sub-standard housing they have lost their proof 

of discharge status. Most have not been receiving medical treatment from the VA— 

nor are they receiving VA benefits to which they are often entitled. Veterans from 

more urban areas typically experience relatively long periods of homelessness, while 

those from rural areas have more often been living in sub-standard housing or in 

makeshift outdoor encampments. 

Our veterans programs provide the housing and supportive services necessary to 

prevent and end homelessness. To ensure a strong rapport with residents, we hire 

mostly veterans as program staff. We provide a range of supportive services, including case management, job training and job referrals, education, legal assistance, 

transportation, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and HIV/AIDS 

screening. 

However, our veterans programs can only provide transitional housing—due to 

program and funding limitations. I am pleased to be here today, to offer some 

thoughts on how government and nonprofit agencies can partner to provide permanent housing opportunities for our nation’s veterans. 

Introduction to Volunteers of America 

Volunteers of America is a national, nonprofit, faith-based organization dedicated 

to helping those in need rebuild their lives and reach their full potential. Through 

thousands of human service programs, including housing and healthcare, Volunteers 

of America helps nearly 2 million people in over 400 communities. Since 1896, our 

ministry of service has supported and empowered America’s most vulnerable groups, 

including at-risk youth, the frail elderly, men and women returning from prison, 

homeless individuals and families, people with disabilities, and those recovering 

from addictions. Our work touches the mind, body, heart—and ultimately the spirit—of those we serve, integrating our deep compassion with highly effective programs and services. 

Volunteers of America Housing and Services for Veterans 

Around the country, Volunteers of America is a leader in providing housing and 

supportive services for homeless and other low income veterans. Our activities focus 

on both preventing and ending homelessness among veterans. We believe that government and nonprofit agencies have a special obligation to assist veterans who are 

in need—based on the service that they have provided to our country. 

We wish to thank the Veterans’ Administration, and Secretary Jim Nicholson, for 

their leadership in helping to end homelessness among veterans. Secretary Nicholson is a former Board Chair for the Volunteers of America—Colorado Branch, and 

a long-time supporter of our organization. We are particularly appreciative of the 

VA’s focus on partnerships with Volunteers of America and other nonprofits—we believe that these partnerships are a necessary component of any effort to meet this 

country’s affordable housing needs. 

To meet these needs, we work in tandem with several federal agencies. Through 

the Department of Labor’s Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program, Volunteers of 

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lessness by meeting veterans right at the prison gate—and helping them find housing, obtain health care and jobs, link up with Veterans’ Administration (VA) benefits 

and other community resources, and obtain transportation. 

We also reach homeless veterans through street outreach programs, including our 

VA funded Florida Veterans Mobile Service Center, which travels the state seeking 

out homeless veterans living in rural areas. When the Center finds a homeless veteran, he or she is immediately provided with food, clothing, a primary care medical 

examination, a determination of eligibility for VA and other government benefits, 

and an assessment of housing needs. Often, veterans are referred directly to Volunteers of America housing programs in Florida. In addition, Volunteers of America 

serves homeless veterans as the largest grantee of the Department of Labor’s Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program (HVRP). We operate 11 such programs, in cities 

around the country. 

Volunteers of America also provides direct housing assistance to veterans. 

Through the VA’s Grant and Per Diem Transitional Housing Program, we operate 

27 transitional housing programs in areas ranging from Key West, Florida to Sheridan, Wyoming. Also, many of our Department of Housing and Urban Development 

(HUD) funded transitional and permanent housing programs for homeless persons 

serve a significant number of veterans. And finally, Volunteers of America operates 

8,133 units of HUD subsidized Section 202 Housing for the Elderly, in 113 properties—along with 900 units of Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities, 

in 62 properties. A number of these units provide quality permanent housing opportunities for elderly or veterans. 

HUD’s Role in Serving Veterans 

The Subcommittee’s invitation to testify this afternoon requested that I ‘‘review 

HUD’s programs designed to assist our nation’s veterans.’’ So as not to duplicate 

HUD’s own testimony, I will do this only briefly. 

I will then conclude my remarks with three recommendations that this Subcommittee and the full Congress can and should implement, to increase HUD’s ability to meet the housing needs of veterans. According to the U.S. Census bureau, one 

and a half million veterans have incomes that fall below the federal poverty level, 

including 634,000 living below 50 percent of the federal poverty level. And the VA 

estimates that about 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, with more 

than 400,000 veterans experiencing homelessness over the course of a year. HUD 

should be authorized to take additional steps to help address the housing problems 

faced by these veterans. 

HUD has one program that is directly targeted to veterans—the HUD-Veterans 

Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD–VASH) program. Beginning in 1992, HUD–VASH 

has provided a changing population of approximately 2,000 hard to house homeless 

mentally ill veterans with a combination of HUD Section 8 vouchers and VA community based clinical case management. The program is intended to provide veterans with long-term assistance. Consequently, due to expected low turnover, only 

4,600 veterans have been able to participate in HUD–VASH. 

According to a VA evaluation, the HUD–VASH program works extremely well. 

After both 18 month and 3 year intervals, 95 percent of veterans remain stably 

housed. In addition, 40 percent of veterans improve their employment status, 60 

percent improve their financial status, and 65 percent improve their independent 

living skills. This is a promising program that should be expanded to meet additional need. 

Although there are no other HUD programs specifically for veterans, other federal 

housing programs do serve veterans. We know, for example, that veterans receive 

‘‘regular’’ Section 8 vouchers due to old age, disability, or membership in a low income family. HUD’s McKinney-Vento homeless assistance programs also serve many 

veterans. In addition, veterans live in HUD funded elderly and disabled housing, 

along with housing for persons with AIDS funded through the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) program. And veterans live in housing developed with funds that HUD provides to state and local governments, such as HOME 

or Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). 

However, HUD does not know the extent to which veterans are represented in 

these programs—because the Department does not collect information on the military service status of tenants assisted through HUD programs. We recommend that 

Congress instruct HUD to make military service history a standard data element 

across its housing assistance programs. And given the continuing need for housing 

that is affordable to low income veterans, we believe that Congress should authorize 

HUD to take additional steps to help Volunteers of America and other nonprofits 

meet the demand. 

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Recommendations: Congress Should Expand HUD’s Role in Helping Nonprofits Meet 

the Affordable Housing Needs of Low Income Veterans 

With increased authority from Congress, we believe that HUD could take significant new steps to help Volunteers of America and other nonprofits meet the housing 

needs of low income veterans. Our country has a moral duty to do no less. 

1. Congress Should Pass S. 3475—The Homes for Heroes Act of 2006 

The Homes for Heroes Act contains several important provisions that would help 

government and nonprofit agencies better collaborate to increase the supply of affordable housing for veterans. First, the bill would create a new housing production 

program, modeled on Section 202 elderly housing. Under this program, nonprofits 

could receive funds for acquisition, construction, reconstruction, or rehabilitation of 

property to be used as housing for low income veterans. Project based rental assistance would also be available, so that tenants would pay no more than 30 percent 

of income as rent—the standard percentage for HUD subsidized housing. VA would 

also partner with nonprofit housing operators, by providing funding for supportive 

services such as case management, transportation, and job training. 

Next, the bill would increase the authority for HUD–VASH Section 8 vouchers 

from 2,000 to 20,000. Vouchers could be used for two purposes—to provide housing 

assistance to additional severely disabled homeless veterans who need housing and 

case management assistance identical to that provided under the current HUD– 

VASH program, and to aid homeless veterans who need stable permanent housing 

with much less significant supportive services—some of who are leaving VA funded 

transitional housing with no place to go. 

The Homes for Heroes Act also makes some important technical changes to HUD 

programs. It mandates that Public Housing Agencies (PHA’s) consider the needs of 

veterans in creating their local housing plans, and requires local officials to consider 

the housing needs of veterans in preparing their Consolidated Plan. 

As a major provider of HUD 202 housing, we believe that the program is working 

well in helping elderly Americans, and expect that a similar program to assist veterans would work equally well. In some cases, it is likely that Volunteers of America 

or other nonprofits would develop permanent housing specifically for veterans. This 

would be appropriate where there is significant demand for such housing, and many 

of the veterans to be served have similar social service needs. However, we would 

more often use this funding to set aside a certain number of housing units for veterans, within a larger multifamily housing development. Construction or rehabilitation of a building to provide affordable housing requires nonprofit housing developers to pull together multiple funding streams. This program would be a welcome 

addition. 

Volunteers of America views the multifamily housing program as a tool to help 

prevent homelessness among veterans, while the increased authority for HUD– 

VASH vouchers would provide additional units of permanent supportive housing to 

end homelessness among veterans—without imposing additional permanent housing 

costs on HUD’s McKinney-Vento homeless assistance grant programs. 

2. Congress Should Pass an Affordable Housing Fund as Part of S. 190—The 

Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act 

Housing legislation targeted to veterans is important, but the housing needs of 

low income veterans can also be met through legislation that provides Volunteers 

of America and other nonprofits with the tools we need to provide quality affordable 

housing for all Americans who need it. 

Recognizing the need to increase our nation’s housing supply, the House-passed 

bill to re-regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac included language creating an affordable housing fund, to be funded with a percentage of profits from both Fannie 

and Freddie. We estimate that this bill could provide up to one billion dollars a year 

for construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing. And given our difficult fiscal times, it is important to note that these funds would not come from the federal 

treasury. 

The full Senate Banking Committee has already passed a version of this bill— 

S. 190—The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act. Unfortunately, the 

legislation does not yet contain an affordable housing fund. We understand that 

there are outstanding regulatory issues to be resolved through negotiation before 

the bill can reach the Senate floor. We call on Senators to resolve those regulatory 

issues—and as part of any agreement, we ask that a manager’s amendment be submitted on the Senate floor that would include an affordable housing fund. These 

new resources are needed as quickly as possible. 

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3. Congress Should Preserve Funding for New Housing to Help End Homelessness 

This Subcommittee is currently considering S. 1801, legislation crafted by Chairman Allard and Ranking Member Reed that would consolidate and reform HUD’s 

McKinney-Vento homeless assistance grant programs. We thank these Senators, 

and other members of the Subcommittee, for your interest in homelessness issues. 

In a March 30, 2006 hearing on McKinney-Vento reauthorization, Volunteers of 

America National President Charles W. Gould provided this Subcommittee with our 

recommendations for program changes. I would like to highlight one of those recommendations today. 

McKinney-Vento funds permanent housing through two programs—the Shelter 

Plus Care program (SPC)—which provides funds to state and local governments and 

the Supportive Housing Program (SHP)—which provides funds to nonprofits. SHP 

also provides significant funds for transitional housing and supportive services. In 

recent years, HUD has devoted an increasing proportion of SPC and SHP funds to 

permanent housing—over 50 percent in the most recent grant awards. Many of 

these permanent supportive housing units are used by Volunteers of America and 

other nonprofits to help end homelessness for veterans. 

When HUD funds permanent housing through any program, all housing subsidies 

must be renewed on an annual basis. In the case of McKinney-Vento, recent projections show that within several years, renewal of existing permanent housing subsidies will take up such a significant proportion of McKinney-Vento funds that local 

communities will have little to no money available to undertake new homeless services programs. This will make it considerably more difficult for communities to meet 

the goals being specified in local Ten Year Plans to End Homelessness—plans that 

are being required by HUD. 

To solve this problem, we ask that a dedicated account be set up, and funded annually, to cover the cost of all McKinney-Vento permanent housing renewals. This 

will ensure that new funding continues to be available as we work to end homelessness for veterans and all other Americans. 

Thank you again for inviting me to testify today. I look forward to answering your 

questions. 

smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with HEARING

50 

RESPONSE TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR REED FROM 

MARK JOHNSTON 

Q.1 Since one and a half million veterans have incomes at or below 

the poverty level, and almost 650,000 have incomes 50 percent 

below the area median income, hundreds of thousands of veterans 

will have difficulties accessing affordable housing. Has HUD collected data on the housing needs of low-income vets? For example, 

do we know how many veterans are receiving a HUD housing subsidy, how many are on waiting lists for such subsidies, and how 

many live in substandard housing? 

A.1. Of the approximately 24.3 million veterans who are living in 

America today, it is estimated that about 5.3% have incomes at or 

below the poverty level. The Department does not currently collect 

specific data on the housing needs of low-income veterans as an 

independent category; nor do we track the number of veterans that 

are in HUD-subsidized housing. Local public housing agencies have 

the authority to establish local preferences to address local needs 

and can choose to establish a preference for veterans. 

While it is not known how many public housing agencies have 

established a veterans’ preference for a housing subsidy, approximately 1,300 veterans are currently using rental subsidies through 

the HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUDV ASH) initiative nationwide. Additionally, approximately 8,832 veterans are 

currently being served in permanent housing projects funded under 

HUD’s homeless assistance programs. 

In addition, HUD’s Office of Housing has two Asset Control Area 

(ACA) Agreements in effect whereby the program participants have 

committed to giving Iraqi War veterans preference for purchasing 

fully rehabilitated properties at a discount sales price (i.e., sales 

price cannot exceed 115% of the program participant’s net development cost). The program participants are New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and Camden City, NJ. These ACA Agreements were entered into on January 11, 2006, and November 22, 2005, respectively. 

Although not a new benefit, Mortgagee Letter 2004–24 reminds 

lenders that veterans are eligible for reduced downpayments under 

FHA programs, when the veteran has less than a full VA eligibility. The FHA formula for cash requirement is adjusted, for high 

closing cost states vis-a-vis low closing costs states. Also, cash requirements are based on sales price, ranging from 1.25% to 2.25%. 

smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with HEARING