Title: Reducing Veteran Homelessness Act of 2020
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Reducing Veteran Homelessness Act of 2020
This bill modifies certain Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) programs and services for homeless veterans, including by authorizing the VA to increase the per diem rate for grant recipients that provide services to homeless veterans.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4858 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4858

   To amend title 38, United States Code, and the Honoring America's 
  Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012, to make 
  certain enhancements to grants awarded by the Secretary of Veterans 
 Affairs and contracts between the Secretary and entities that provide 
         services to homeless veterans, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             October 23 (legislative day, October 19), 2020

  Mrs. Loeffler (for herself and Mr. Rounds) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 38, United States Code, and the Honoring America's 
  Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012, to make 
  certain enhancements to grants awarded by the Secretary of Veterans 
 Affairs and contracts between the Secretary and entities that provide 
         services to homeless veterans, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Reducing Veteran Homelessness Act of 
2020''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO GRANTS AWARDED BY THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS 
              AFFAIRS TO ENTITIES THAT PROVIDE SERVICES TO HOMELESS 
              VETERANS.

    (a) Rates for Per Diem Payments.--Section 2012(a)(2)(B) of title 
38, United States Code, is amended by striking clause (i) and inserting 
the following new clause (i):
    ``(i)(I) Except as provided in clause (ii), and subject to the 
availability of appropriations, the Secretary may adjust the rate for 
such per diem payments.
    ``(II) Any adjustment made under this clause--
            ``(aa) may not result in a rate that--
                    ``(AA) is lower than the rate in effect under this 
                paragraph as in effect immediately preceding the date 
                of the enactment of the Reducing Veteran Homelessness 
                Act of 2020; or
                    ``(BB) exceeds the rate that is 115 percent of the 
                rate authorized for State homes for domiciliary care 
                under subsection (a)(1)(A) of section 1741 of this 
                title, as the Secretary may increase from time to time 
                under subsection (c) of that section; and
            ``(bb) may be determined on the basis of locality.''.
    (b) Reimbursement for Use of Homeless Management Information 
System.--Section 2012(a) of such title is amended by adding at the end 
the following paragraph:
    ``(4) The Secretary may reimburse the recipient of a grant under 
section 2011, 2013, or 2061 of this title for fees charged to that 
grant recipient for the use of the homeless management information 
system described in section 402(f) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
Assistance Act (Public Law 100-77; 42 U.S.C. 11360a(f))--
            ``(A) in amounts the Secretary determines to be reasonable; 
        and
            ``(B) if the Secretary determines that the grant recipient 
        is unable to obtain information contained in such system 
        through other means and at no cost to the grant recipient.''.

SEC. 3. CONTRACTS RELATING TO CASE MANAGERS FOR HOMELESS VETERANS IN 
              SUPPORTED HOUSING PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 304 of the Honoring America's Veterans and 
Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-154; 38 
U.S.C. 2041 note) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by inserting ``(1)'' before ``The Secretary''; 
                and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraphs:
    ``(2)(A) The director of each covered medical center shall seek to 
enter into one or more contracts or agreements described in paragraph 
(1).
    ``(B) Any contract or agreement entered into under subparagraph (A) 
may require that each case manager employed by an eligible entity has 
credentials equivalent to the credentials required for a case manager 
of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
    ``(C)(i) The Secretary may waive the requirement under subparagraph 
(A) with respect to a covered medical center if the Secretary 
determines that fulfilling such requirement is infeasible.
    ``(ii) If the Secretary grants a waiver under clause (i), the 
Secretary shall, not later than 90 days after granting the waiver, 
submit to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 
containing--
            ``(I) an explanation of the determination made under clause 
        (i);
            ``(II) a plan to increase the number of case managers of 
        the Department; and
            ``(III) a plan for the covered medical center to increase 
        use of housing vouchers allocated to that medical center under 
        the program described in paragraph (1).
    ``(D) In this paragraph, the term `covered medical center' means a 
medical center of the Department with respect to which the Secretary 
determines that--
            ``(i) 15 percent of all housing vouchers allocated to that 
        medical center under the program described in paragraph (1) 
        during the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in which such 
        determination was made were unused due to a lack of case 
        management services provided by the Secretary; and
            ``(ii) one or more case manager positions have been vacant 
        for at least nine consecutive months immediately preceding the 
        date of such determination.''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)(2)--
                    (A) in the matter before subparagraph (A), by 
                striking ``, including because--'' and inserting a 
                period; and
                    (B) by striking subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C).
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on the first day of the first fiscal year that begins after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
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