Friday, Feb 25 2011 7:24PM
The U.S. Senate is considering a bill that would provide more housing assistance funding for homeless veterans in rural and underserved areas.
New legislation aimed at improving outreach to homeless veterans in rural and underserved areas has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.
The Helping Our Homeless Veterans Act would improve housing assistance for homeless veterans in addition to other services such as counseling and job training. The bill would strengthen the Department of Housing and Urban Development Veterans Affairs Support Housing program and would allow the VA to partner with eligible tribes, community service programs and local governments to ensure a variety of homeless veterans have access to the assistance.
A national study released this year found that 16 percent of all homeless adults are veterans, although they only make up 10 percent of the country's adult population. The legislation has received considerable bipartisan support and has already been endorsed by 19 veterans and social services organizations.
"The very least we can do is make sure they have a place to live when they come home," Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, who was part of the group that introduced the bill, told the Arctic Sounder.
Homelessness across the nation has spiked since the beginning of the economic recession. In California, lawmakers have introduced initiatives aimed at helping the state's approximately 200,000 homeless young adults.