I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2522 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a pilot program 

to award grants for the provision of furniture, household items, and 

other assistance to homeless veterans to facilitate their transition into 

permanent housing, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2015 

Mrs. BEATTY (for herself, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. LEE, 

Mr. VARGAS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. CONYERS, 

Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of 

Texas, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. 

HASTINGS, Mr. RANGEL, and Ms. SPEIER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish 

a pilot program to award grants for the provision of 

furniture, household items, and other assistance to homeless veterans to facilitate their transition into permanent 

housing, 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. PILOT PROGRAM ON PROVISION OF FUR2 NITURE, HOUSEHOLD ITEMS, AND OTHER AS3 SISTANCE TO HOMELESS VETERANS MOVING 

4 INTO PERMANENT HOUSING. 

5 (a) PILOT PROGRAM REQUIRED.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec8 retary of Veterans Affairs shall commence a pilot 

9 program to assess the feasibility and advisability of 

10 awarding grants to eligible entities to provide fur11 niture, household items, and other assistance to cov12 ered veterans moving into permanent housing to fa13 cilitate the settlement of such covered veterans in 

14 such housing. 

15 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—For purposes of the 

16 pilot program, an eligible entity is any of the fol17 lowing: 

18 (A) A veterans service agency. 

19 (B) A veterans service organization. 

20 (C) A nongovernmental organization 

21 that— 

22 (i) is described in paragraph (3), (4), 

23 or (19) of section 501(c) of the Internal 

24 Revenue Code of 1986 and is exempt from 

25 taxation under section 501(a) of such code; 

26 and 


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1 (ii) has an established history of pro2 viding assistance to veterans or the home3 less. 

4 (3) COVERED VETERANS.—For purposes of the 

5 pilot program, a covered veteran is any of the fol6 lowing: 

7 (A) A formerly homeless veteran who is re8 ceiving housing, clinical services, and case man9 agement assistance under section 8(o)(19) of 

10 the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 

11 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(19)). 

12 (B) A veteran who is receiving— 

13 (i) assistance from, or is the bene14 ficiary of a service furnished by, a program 

15 that is in receipt of a grant under section 

16 2011 of title 38, United States Code; or 

17 (ii) services for which per diem pay18 ment is received under section 2012 of 

19 such title. 

20 (C) A veteran who is— 

21 (i) a beneficiary of the outreach pro22 gram carried out under section 2022(e) of 

23 such title; or 


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1 (ii) in receipt of referral or counseling 

2 services from the program carried out 

3 under section 2023 of such title. 

4 (D) A veteran who is receiving a service or 

5 assistance under section 2031 of such title. 

6 (E) A veteran who is residing in thera7 peutic housing operated under section 2032 of 

8 such title. 

9 (F) A veteran who is receiving domiciliary 

10 services under section 2043 of such title or 

11 domiciliary care under section 1710(b) of such 

12 title. 

13 (G) A veteran who is receiving supportive 

14 services under section 2044 of such title. 

15 (4) DURATION.—The Secretary shall carry out 

16 the pilot program during the three-year period be17 ginning on the date of the commencement of the 

18 pilot program. 

19 (b) GRANTS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

21 out the pilot program through the award of grants 

22 to eligible entities for the provision of furniture and 

23 other household items as described in subsection 

24 (a)(1). 


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1 (2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The amount of a 

2 grant awarded under the pilot program shall not ex3 ceed $500,000. 

4 (c) SELECTION OF GRANT RECIPIENTS.— 

5 (1) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking a 

6 grant under the pilot program shall submit to the 

7 Secretary an application therefor in such form and 

8 in such manner as the Secretary considers appro9 priate. 

10 (2) SELECTION PRIORITY.— 

11 (A) COMMUNITIES WITH GREATEST

12 NEED.—Subject to subparagraph (B), in ac13 cordance with regulations the Secretary shall 

14 prescribe, the Secretary shall give priority in 

15 the awarding of grants under the pilot program 

16 to eligible entities who serve communities which 

17 the Secretary determines have the greatest need 

18 of homeless services. 

19 (B) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The 

20 Secretary may give priority in the awarding of 

21 grants under the pilot program to achieve a fair 

22 distribution, as determined by the Secretary, 

23 among eligible entities serving covered veterans 

24 in different geographic regions, including in 

25 rural communities and tribal lands. 


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1 (d) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para3 graph (2), each eligible entity receiving a grant 

4 under the pilot program shall use the grant— 

5 (A) to coordinate with the Secretary to fa6 cilitate distribution of furniture and other 

7 household items to covered veterans moving into 

8 permanent housing; 

9 (B) to purchase, or otherwise obtain via 

10 donation, furniture and household items for use 

11 by such covered veterans; 

12 (C) to distribute such furniture and house13 hold items to such covered veterans; and 

14 (D) to pay for background checks, provide 

15 security deposits, provide funds for utilities, 

16 and provide moving expenses for such covered 

17 veterans that are necessary for the settlement 

18 of such covered veterans in such housing. 

19 (2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.—A re20 cipient of a grant awarded under the pilot program 

21 may not expend more than $2,500 of the amount of 

22 the grant awarded for the provision to a single cov23 ered veteran of assistance under the pilot program. 

24 (3) MEMORANDUMS OF UNDERSTANDING.—In 

25 the case of an eligible entity receiving a grant under 


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1 the pilot program that entered into a memorandum 

2 of understanding with the Secretary before the date 

3 of the enactment of this Act that provides for the 

4 provision of furniture and other household items to 

5 covered veterans as described in subsection (a) with6 out Federal compensation, the eligible entity may 

7 use the grant in accordance with the provisions of 

8 such memorandum of understanding in lieu of para9 graph (1). 

10 (4) FULL USE OF FUNDS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—A recipient of a grant 

12 awarded under the pilot program shall use the 

13 full amount of the grant by not later than one 

14 year after the date on which the Secretary 

15 awards such grant. 

16 (B) RECOVERY.—The Secretary may re17 cover from a recipient of a grant awarded under 

18 this section all of the unused amounts of the 

19 grant if all of the amounts of the grant are not 

20 used— 

21 (i) pursuant to paragraph (1) and 

22 subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; or 

23 (ii) in a case described in paragraph 

24 (3), pursuant to an applicable memo25 randum of understanding. 


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1 (e) OUTREACH.—The Secretary shall conduct out2 reach, including under chapter 63 of title 38, United 

3 States Code, to inform covered veterans about their eligi4 bility to receive household items, furniture, and other as5 sistance under the pilot program. 

6 (f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe 

7 regulations for— 

8 (1) evaluating an application by an eligible enti9 ty for a grant under the pilot program; and 

10 (2) otherwise administering the pilot program. 

11 (g) REPORT.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the date that 

13 is 90 days after the last day of the pilot program, 

14 the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on 

15 the pilot program. 

16 (2) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under 

17 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

18 (A) An assessment of the pilot program. 

19 (B) The findings of the Secretary with re20 spect to the feasibility and advisability of 

21 awarding grants to eligible entities as described 

22 in subsection (a)(1). 

23 (C) Such recommendations as the Sec24 retary may have for legislative or administrative 


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1 action to facilitate the settlement of covered 

2 veterans into permanent housing. 

3 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

5 out this section $5,000,000 for each year of the pilot pro6 gram. 

7 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) OUTREACH.—The term ‘‘outreach’’ has the 

9 meaning given such term in section 6301(b)(1) of 

10 title 38, United States Code. 

11 (2) VETERANS SERVICE AGENCY.—The term 

12 ‘‘veterans service agency’’ means a unit of a State 

13 government, or a political subdivision thereof, that 

14 has primary responsibility for programs and activi15 ties of such government or subdivision related to vet16 erans benefits. 

17 (3) VETERANS SERVICE ORGANIZATION.—The 

18 term ‘‘veterans service organization’’ means any or19 ganization recognized by the Secretary for the rep20 resentation of veterans under section 5902 of title 

21 38, United States Code. 

Æ 


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