II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3349 

To amend title 38, United States Code, and the United States Housing 

Act of 1937 to enhance and expand the assistance provided by the 

Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Housing and 

Urban Development to homeless veterans and veterans at risk of homelessness, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 27, 2012 

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

the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, and the United 

States Housing Act of 1937 to enhance and expand 

the assistance provided by the Department of Veterans 

Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to homeless veterans and veterans at risk of 

homelessness, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Zero Tolerance for 

5 Veterans Homelessness Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) Veterans are at a greater risk of becoming 

4 homeless than other people in the United States be5 cause of characteristics that include the following: 

6 (A) Having employment-related skills that 

7 are unique to military service and that can be 

8 difficult to transfer to the civilian sector. 

9 (B) Combat-related health issues. 

10 (C) Earning minimal income or being un11 employed. 

12 (D) A shortage of safe, affordable housing. 

13 (2) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs estimates 

14 the following: 

15 (A) More than 67,000 veterans are home16 less on any given night. 

17 (B) About 145,000 veterans experience 

18 homelessness each year. 

(C) Veterans account for nearly 1 19 ⁄5 of all 

20 homeless people in the United States. 

21 (3) It is expected that significant increases in 

22 services will be needed to serve the aging veterans 

23 of the Vietnam War and members of the Armed 

24 Forces returning from service in Iraq and Afghani25 stan. 


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1 (4) In 2009, the President and the Secretary of 

2 Veterans Affairs announced the Federal Govern3 ment’s renewed efforts to address veteran homeless4 ness. 

5 SEC. 3. ENHANCEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE SERVICE PRO6 GRAMS. 

7 (a) ENHANCEMENT OF GRANTS.—Section 2011 of 

8 title 38, United States Code, is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘expan10 sion, remodeling, or alteration of existing buildings, 

11 or acquisition of facilities,’’ and inserting ‘‘new con12 struction of facilities, expansion, remodeling, or al13 teration of existing facilities, or acquisition of facili14 ties,’’; and 

15 (2) in subsection (c)— 

16 (A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘A 

17 grant’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) A grant’’; 

18 (B) in the second sentence of paragraph 

19 (1), as designated by subparagraph (A), by 

20 striking ‘‘The amount’’ and inserting the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(2) The amount’’; and 

23 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

24 paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(3)(A) The Secretary may not deny an application 

2 from an entity that seeks a grant under this section to 

3 carry out a project described in subsection (b)(1)(A) solely 

4 on the basis that the entity proposes to use funding from 

5 other private or public sources, if the entity demonstrates 

6 that a private nonprofit organization will provide oversight 

7 and site control for the project. 

8 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph, the term ‘private nonprofit 

9 organization’ means the following: 

10 ‘‘(i) An incorporated private institution, organi11 zation, or foundation— 

12 ‘‘(I) that has received, or has temporary 

13 clearance to receive, tax-exempt status under 

14 paragraph (2), (3), or (19) of section 501(c) of 

15 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; 

16 ‘‘(II) for which no part of the net earnings 

17 of the institution, organization, or foundation 

18 inures to the benefit of any member, founder, 

19 or contributor of the institution, organization, 

20 or foundation; and 

21 ‘‘(III) that the Secretary determines is fi22 nancially responsible. 

23 ‘‘(ii) A for-profit limited partnership or limited 

24 liability company, the sole general partner or manVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:54 Jun 28, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3349.IS S3349

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1 ager of which is an organization that is described by 

2 subclauses (I) through (III) of clause (i). 

3 ‘‘(iii) A corporation wholly owned and controlled 

4 by an organization that is described by subclauses 

5 (I) through (III) of clause (i).’’. 

6 (b) GRANT AND PER DIEM PAYMENTS.— 

7 (1) STUDY AND DEVELOPMENT OF FISCAL CON8 TROLS AND PAYMENT METHOD.—Not later than 1 

9 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

10 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall— 

11 (A) complete a study of all matters relat12 ing to the method used by the Secretary to 

13 make per diem payments under section 2012(a) 

14 of title 38, United States Code, including 

15 changes anticipated by the Secretary in the cost 

16 of furnishing services to homeless veterans and 

17 accounting for costs of providing such services 

18 in various geographic areas; 

19 (B) develop more effective and efficient 

20 procedures for fiscal control and fund account21 ing by recipients of grants under sections 2011, 

22 2012, and 2061 of such title; and 

23 (C) develop a more effective and efficient 

24 method for adequately reimbursing recipients of 


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1 grants under section 2011 of such title for serv2 ices furnished to homeless veterans. 

3 (2) CONSIDERATION.—In developing the meth4 od required by paragraph (1)(C), the Secretary may 

5 consider payments and grants received by recipients 

6 of grants described in such paragraph from other 

7 departments and agencies of Federal and local gov8 ernments and from private entities. 

9 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

10 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

11 shall submit to Congress a report on— 

12 (A) the findings of the Secretary with re13 spect to the study required by subparagraph 

14 (A) of paragraph (1); 

15 (B) the methods developed under subpara16 graphs (B) and (C) of such paragraph; and 

17 (C) any recommendations of the Secretary 

18 for revising the method described in subpara19 graph (A) of such paragraph and any legislative 

20 action the Secretary considers necessary to im21 plement such method. 


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1 SEC. 4. SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS IN OF2 FICE OF SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND 

3 URBAN DEVELOPMENT. 

4 Section 4 of the Department of Housing and Urban 

5 Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3533) is amended by adding 

6 at the end the following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(h) SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR VETERANS AF8 FAIRS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be in the 

10 Department a Special Assistant for Veterans Af11 fairs, who shall be in the Office of the Secretary. 

12 ‘‘(2) APPOINTMENT.—The Special Assistant for 

13 Veterans Affairs shall be appointed by the Secretary, 

14 based solely on merit and shall be covered under the 

15 provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing 

16 appointments in the competitive service. 

17 ‘‘(3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Special Assist18 ant for Veterans Affairs shall be responsible for— 

19 ‘‘(A) ensuring that veterans have access to 

20 housing and homeless assistance under each 

21 program of the Department providing such as22 sistance; 

23 ‘‘(B) coordinating all programs and activi24 ties of the Department relating to veterans; 


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1 ‘‘(C) serving as a liaison for the Depart2 ment with the Department of Veterans Affairs; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(D) carrying out such other duties as 

5 may be assigned to the Special Assistant by the 

6 Secretary or by law.’’. 

7 SEC. 5. PLAN TO END VETERAN HOMELESSNESS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet10 erans Affairs shall submit to Congress a comprehensive 

11 plan to end homelessness among veterans. 

12 (b) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by subsection (a) 

13 shall include the following: 

14 (1) An analysis of programs of the Department 

15 of Veterans Affairs and other departments and 

16 agencies of the Federal Government that are de17 signed to prevent homelessness among veterans and 

18 assist veterans who are homeless. 

19 (2) An evaluation of whether and how coordina20 tion between the programs described in paragraph 

21 (1) would contribute to ending homelessness among 

22 veterans. 

23 (3) Recommendations for improving the pro24 grams described in paragraph (1), enhancing coordiVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:54 Jun 28, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3349.IS S3349

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1 nation between such programs, or eliminating pro2 grams that are no longer effective. 

3 (4) Recommendations for new programs to pre4 vent and end homelessness among veterans, includ5 ing an estimation of the cost of such programs. 

6 (5) A timeline for implementing the plan, in7 cluding milestones to track the implementation of 

8 the plan. 

9 (6) Benchmarks to measure the effectiveness of 

10 the plan and the efforts of the Secretary to imple11 ment the plan. 

12 (7) Such other matters as the Secretary con13 siders necessary. 

14 (c) CONSIDERATION OF VETERANS LOCATED IN

15 RURAL AREAS.—The analysis, evaluation, and rec16 ommendations included in the report required by sub17 section (a) shall include consideration of the circumstances 

18 and requirements that are unique to veterans located in 

19 rural areas. 

Æ 


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