IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 251 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 15, 2015 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

AN ACT 

To transfer the position of Special Assistant for Veterans 

Affairs in the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Office of the Secretary, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Homes for Heroes Act 

3 of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS IN 

5 THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN 

6 DEVELOPMENT. 

7 (a) TRANSFER OF POSITION TO OFFICE OF THE SEC8 RETARY.—Section 4 of the Department of Housing and 

9 Urban Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3533) is amended by 

10 adding at the end the following new subsection: 

11 ‘‘(h) SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR VETERANS AF12 FAIRS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) POSITION.—There shall be in the Office of 

14 the Secretary a Special Assistant for Veterans Af15 fairs, who shall report directly to the Secretary. 

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

17 Veterans Affairs shall be appointed based solely on 

18 merit and shall be covered under the provisions of 

19 title 5, United States Code, governing appointments 

20 in the competitive service. 

21 ‘‘(3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Special Assist22 ant for Veterans Affairs shall be responsible for— 

23 ‘‘(A) ensuring veterans have fair access to 

24 housing and homeless assistance under each 

25 program of the Department providing either 

26 such assistance; 


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1 ‘‘(B) coordinating all programs and activi2 ties of the Department relating to veterans; 

3 ‘‘(C) serving as a liaison for the Depart4 ment with the Department of Veterans Affairs, 

5 including establishing and maintaining relation6 ships with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 

7 ‘‘(D) serving as a liaison for the Depart8 ment, and establishing and maintaining rela9 tionships with the United States Interagency 

10 Council on Homelessness and officials of State, 

11 local, regional, and nongovernmental organiza12 tions concerned with veterans; 

13 ‘‘(E) providing information and advice re14 garding— 

15 ‘‘(i) sponsoring housing projects for 

16 veterans assisted under programs adminis17 tered by the Department; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) assisting veterans in obtaining 

19 housing or homeless assistance under pro20 grams administered by the Department; 

21 ‘‘(F) coordinating with the Secretary of 

22 Housing and Urban Development and the Sec23 retary of Veterans Affairs in carrying out sec24 tion 3 of the Homes for Heroes Act of 2015; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(G) carrying out such other duties as may 

2 be assigned to the Special Assistant by the Sec3 retary or by law.’’. 

4 (b) TRANSFER OF POSITION IN OFFICE OF DEPUTY

5 ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR SPECIAL NEEDS.—On the 

6 date that the initial Special Assistant for Veterans Affairs 

7 is appointed pursuant to section 4(h)(2) of the Depart8 ment of Housing and Urban Development Act, as added 

9 by subsection (a) of this section, the position of Special 

10 Assistant for Veterans Programs in the Office of the Dep11 uty Assistant Secretary for Special Needs of the Depart12 ment of Housing and Urban Development shall be termi13 nated. 

14 SEC. 3. ANNUAL SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT ON VETERANS 

15 HOMELESSNESS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 

17 Urban Development and the Secretary of Veterans Af18 fairs, in coordination with the United States Interagency 

19 Council on Homelessness, shall submit annually to the 

20 Committees of the Congress specified in subsection (b), 

21 together with the annual reports required by such Secre22 taries under section 203(c)(1) of the McKinney-Vento 

23 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11313(c)(1)), a sup24 plemental report that includes the following information 

25 with respect to the preceding year: 


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1 (1) The same information, for such preceding 

2 year, that was included with respect to 2010 in the 

3 report by the Secretary of Housing and Urban De4 velopment and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs en5 titled ‘‘Veterans Homelessness: A Supplemental Re6 port to the 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Re7 port to Congress’’. 

8 (2) Information regarding the activities of the 

9 Department of Housing and Urban Development re10 lating to veterans during such preceding year, as fol11 lows: 

12 (A) The number of veterans provided as13 sistance under the housing choice voucher pro14 gram for Veterans Affairs supported housing 

15 (VASH) under section 8(o)(19) of the United 

16 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

17 1437f(o)(19)), the socioeconomic characteristics 

18 of such homeless veterans, and the number, 

19 types, and locations of entities contracted under 

20 such section to administer the vouchers. 

21 (B) A summary description of the special 

22 considerations made for veterans under public 

23 housing agency plans submitted pursuant to 

24 section 5A of the United States Housing Act of 

25 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437c–1) and under comVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Jul 15, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H251.RFS H251

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1 prehensive housing affordability strategies sub2 mitted pursuant to section 105 of the Cranston3 Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 12705). 

5 (C) A description of the activities of the 

6 Special Assistant for Veterans Affairs of the 

7 Department of Housing and Urban Develop8 ment. 

9 (D) A description of the efforts of the De10 partment of Housing and Urban Development 

11 and the other members of the United States 

12 Interagency Council on Homelessness to coordi13 nate the delivery of housing and services to vet14 erans. 

15 (E) The cost to the Department of Hous16 ing and Urban Development of administering 

17 the programs and activities relating to veterans. 

18 (F) Any other information that the Sec19 retary of Housing and Urban Development and 

20 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs consider rel21 evant in assessing the programs and activities 

22 of the Department of Housing and Urban De23 velopment relating to veterans. 

24 (b) COMMITTEES.—The Committees of the Congress 

25 specified in this subsection are as follows: 


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1 (1) The Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

2 Urban Affairs of the Senate. 

3 (2) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

4 Senate. 

5 (3) The Committee on Appropriations of the 

6 Senate. 

7 (4) The Committee on Financial Services of the 

8 House of Representatives. 

9 (5) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

10 House of Representatives. 

11 (6) The Committee on Appropriations of the 

12 House of Representatives. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 14, 2015. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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