I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2559 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements in 

the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs relating 

to homeless veterans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 15, 2011 

Mr. DEUTCH (for himself, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. RICHARDSON, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. REYES, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. 

ENGEL, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, and 

Mr. ROONEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain 

improvements in the laws administered by the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs relating to homeless veterans, and 

for other purposes. 

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


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1 TITLE I—HOMELESS VETERANS 

2 MATTERS 

3 SECTION 101. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Homeless He5 roes Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 102. ENHANCEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE SERVICE 

7 PROGRAMS. 

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

9 title 38, United States Code, is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘expan11 sion, remodeling, or alteration of existing facilities, 

12 or acquisition of facilities,’’ and inserting ‘‘new con13 struction of facilities, expansion, remodeling, or al14 teration of existing facilities, or acquisition of facili15 ties’’; and 

16 (2) in subsection (c)— 

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

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

19 (B) in the second sentence of paragraph 

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

21 striking ‘‘The amount’’ and inserting the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(2) The amount’’; and 

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

25 paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(3)(A) The Secretary may not deny an appli2 cation from an entity that seeks a grant under this 

3 section to carry out a project described in subsection 

4 (b)(1)(A) solely on the basis that the entity proposes 

5 to use funding from other private or public sources, 

6 if the entity demonstrates that a private nonprofit 

7 organization will provide oversight and site control 

8 for the project. 

9 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph, the term ‘private 

10 nonprofit organization’ means the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) An incorporated private institu12 tion, organization, or foundation— 

13 ‘‘(I) that has received, or has 

14 temporary clearance to receive, tax-ex15 empt status under paragraph (2), (3), 

16 or (19) of section 501(c) of the Inter17 nal Revenue Code of 1986; 

18 ‘‘(II) for which no part of the net 

19 earnings of the institution, organiza20 tion, or foundation inures to the ben21 efit of any member, founder, or con22 tributor of the institution, organiza23 tion, or foundation; and 

24 ‘‘(III) that the Secretary deter25 mines is financially responsible. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) A for-profit limited partnership 

2 or limited liability company, the sole gen3 eral partner or manager of which is an or4 ganization that is described by subclauses 

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

6 ‘‘(iii) A corporation wholly owned and 

7 controlled by an organization that is de8 scribed by subclauses (I) through (III) of 

9 clause (i).’’. 

10 (b) GRANT AND PER DIEM PAYMENTS.— 

11 (1) STUDY AND DEVELOPMENT OF FISCAL CON12 TROLS AND PAYMENT METHOD.—Not later than one 

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

14 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall— 

15 (A) complete a study of all matters relat16 ing to the method used by the Secretary to 

17 make per diem payments under section 2012(a) 

18 of title 38, United States Code; and 

19 (B) develop an improved method for ade20 quately reimbursing recipients of grants under 

21 section 2011 of such title for services furnished 

22 to homeless veterans. 

23 (2) CONSIDERATION.—In developing the meth24 od required by paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary may 

25 consider payments and grants received by recipients 


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1 of grants described in such paragraph from other 

2 departments and agencies of Federal and local gov3 ernments and from private entities. 

4 (3) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

6 shall submit to Congress a report on— 

7 (A) the findings of the Secretary with re8 spect to the study required by subparagraph 

9 (A) of paragraph (1); 

10 (B) the method developed under subpara11 graph (B) of such paragraph; and 

12 (C) any recommendations of the Secretary 

13 for revising the method described in subpara14 graph (A) of such paragraph and any legislative 

15 action the Secretary considers necessary to im16 plement such method. 

17 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

18 2013 of such title is amended by striking ‘‘subchapter’’ 

19 and all that follows through the period and inserting the 

20 following: ‘‘subchapter amounts as follows: 

21 ‘‘(1) $150,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 

22 through 2009. 

23 ‘‘(2) $175,100,000 for fiscal year 2010. 

24 ‘‘(3) $217,700,000 for fiscal year 2011. 

25 ‘‘(4) $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2012. 


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1 ‘‘(5) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2013 and 

2 each fiscal year thereafter.’’. 

3 SEC. 103. MODIFICATION OF GRANT PROGRAM FOR HOME4 LESS VETERANS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS. 

5 (a) INCLUSION OF ENTITIES ELIGIBLE FOR COM6 PREHENSIVE SERVICE PROGRAM GRANTS AND PER DIEM

7 PAYMENTS FOR SERVICES TO HOMELESS VETERANS.— 

8 Subsection (a) of section 2061 of such title is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘to grant and per diem pro10 viders’’ and inserting ‘‘to entities eligible for grants 

11 and per diem payments under sections 2011 and 

12 2012 of this title’’; and 

13 (2) by striking ‘‘by those facilities and pro14 viders’’ and inserting ‘‘by those facilities and enti15 ties’’. 

16 (b) INCLUSION OF MALE HOMELESS VETERANS

17 WITH MINOR DEPENDENTS.—Subsection (b) of such sec18 tion is amended— 

19 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘, including 

20 women who have care of minor dependents’’; 

21 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘or’’; 

22 (3) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at 

23 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

24 (4) by adding at the end the following new 

25 paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(5) individuals who have care of minor de2 pendents.’’. 

3 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF PROVISION OF SERVICES TO

4 DEPENDENTS.—Such section is further amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub6 section (d); and 

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol8 lowing new subsection (c): 

9 ‘‘(c) PROVISION OF SERVICES TO DEPENDENTS.—A 

10 recipient of a grant under subsection (a) may use amounts 

11 under the grant to provide services directly to a dependent 

12 of a homeless veteran with special needs who is under the 

13 care of such homeless veteran while such homeless veteran 

14 receives services from the grant recipient under this sec15 tion.’’. 

16 SEC. 104. MODIFICATION OF AUTHORITY FOR PROVISION 

17 OF TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION TO 

18 CERTAIN VETERANS TO INCLUDE PROVISION 

19 OF TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION TO 

20 HOMELESS VETERANS WHO ARE NOT SERI21 OUSLY MENTALLY ILL. 

22 Section 2031(a) of such title is amended in the mat23 ter before paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘, including’’ and in24 serting ‘‘and to’’. 


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1 SEC. 105. PLAN TO END VETERAN HOMELESSNESS. 

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

3 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet4 erans Affairs shall submit to Congress a comprehensive 

5 plan to end homelessness among veterans. 

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

7 shall include the following: 

8 (1) An analysis of programs of the Department 

9 of Veterans Affairs and other departments and 

10 agencies of the Federal Government that are de11 signed to prevent homelessness among veterans and 

12 assist veterans who are homeless. 

13 (2) An evaluation of whether and how coordina14 tion between the programs described in paragraph 

15 (1) would contribute to ending homelessness among 

16 veterans. 

17 (3) Recommendations for improving the pro18 grams described in paragraph (1), enhancing coordi19 nation between such programs, or eliminating pro20 grams that are no longer effective. 

21 (4) Recommendations for new programs to pre22 vent and end homelessness among veterans, includ23 ing an estimate of the cost of such programs. 

24 (5) A timeline for implementing the plan, in25 cluding milestones to track the implementation of 

26 the plan. 


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1 (6) Benchmarks to measure the effectiveness of 

2 the plan and the efforts of the Secretary to imple3 ment the plan. 

4 (7) Such other matters as the Secretary con5 siders necessary. 

6 (c) CONSIDERATION OF VETERANS LOCATED IN

7 RURAL AREAS.—The analysis, evaluation, and rec8 ommendations included in the report required by sub9 section (a) shall include consideration of the circumstances 

10 and requirements that are unique to veterans located in 

11 rural areas. 

12 SEC. 106. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN AUTHORITIES RELATING 

13 TO HOMELESS VETERANS. 

14 (a) HEALTH CARE FOR HOMELESS VETERANS.— 

15 Section 2031(b) of title 38, United States Code, is amend16 ed by striking ‘‘December 31, 2011’’ and inserting ‘‘De17 cember 31, 2012’’. 

18 (b) CENTERS FOR PROVISION OF COMPREHENSIVE

19 SERVICES TO HOMELESS VETERANS.—Section 2033(d) of 

20 such title is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2011’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2014’’. 

22 (c) PROPERTY TRANSFERS FOR HOUSING ASSIST23 ANCE FOR HOMELESS VETERANS.—Section 2041(c) of 

24 such title is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2011’’ 

25 and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2014’’. 


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1 (d) ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON HOMELESS VET2 ERANS.—Section 2066(d) of such title is amended by 

3 striking ‘‘December 30, 2011’’ and inserting ‘‘December 

4 30, 2013’’. 

5 SEC. 107. REAUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR 

6 HOMELESS VETERANS REINTEGRATION PRO7 GRAM. 

8 Section 2021(e)(1) of such title is amended adding 

9 at the end the following new subparagraph: 

10 ‘‘(G) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.’’. 

11 SEC. 108. REAUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR FI12 NANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR SUPPORTIVE 

13 SERVICES FOR VERY LOW-INCOME VETERAN 

14 FAMILIES IN PERMANENT HOUSING. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2044(e) of such title is 

16 amended— 

17 (1) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the 

18 following new subparagraph: 

19 ‘‘(D) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.’’; 

20 and 

21 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘2011’’ and 

22 inserting ‘‘2012’’. 

23 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (1) of 

24 such subsection is further amended by striking ‘‘carry out 


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1 subsection (a), (b), and (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘carry out sub2 sections (a), (b), and (c)’’. 

3 SEC. 109. REAUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR 

4 GRANT PROGRAM FOR HOMELESS VETERANS 

5 WITH SPECIAL NEEDS. 

6 Section 2061(c)(1) of such title is amended by strik7 ing ‘‘2011’’ and inserting ‘‘2013’’. 

Æ 


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