From Military.com:
“VA Warns of 'Dramatic
Increase' in Homeless Veterans as Eviction Moratorium Ends”
The number of homeless veterans
living on the street or in temporary shelters and cheap hotels is expected to skyrocket
after the end of this month as the federal moratorium on evictions for back
rent expires, top government officials said Wednesday. The Department of
Veterans Affairs "is deeply concerned about possible dramatic increases in
homelessness when eviction moratoria are lifted," Keith Harris, national
director of clinical operations for the VA's Homeless Programs Office, said at
a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing.
As they brace for the
moratorium's June 30 end, the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban
Development were planning to increase funding for rental assistance and boost
the number of HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers by
70,000, said Richard Cho, senior adviser for housing and services at HUD. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extended the eviction moratorium
several times, most recently in March to June 30, and advocacy groups called
for another extension at the hearing. Lifting the moratorium at this time
"could result in an unprecedented wave of veteran homelessness," said
Kathryn Monet, chief executive officer of the National Coalition for Homeless
Veterans. In her written testimony, Monet urged the subcommittee members to
consider a range of factors that will come into play as the nation emerges from
the pandemic and emergency relief assistance is eased or lifted. "There
will be a deepening economic crisis when unemployment benefits sunset.
Similarly, the housing crisis will deepen when the eviction moratorium
sunsets," she said.
Monet warned that "nearly 15
million Americans have accrued over $50 billion in missed rental payments, and
veterans are among them. They will immediately be added to the 'at-risk'
category of homelessness if unable to access enough emergency rent assistance
or other homelessness prevention funding." Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said "the
moratorium probably saved a lot of veterans from being evicted, and once you're
homeless it's nearly impossible to get out of homelessness and it's very
expensive to do it." Monet agreed. "One of the things we all know
about homelessness is that prior experience of homelessness increases your
likelihood of being homeless again," she said. She called for an extension
of the moratorium "not forever but for a little while longer until we can
get everyone back on their feet." Harris responded to the issues raised by
Monet and other homeless advocates by stating, "We're as concerned as
anyone else in this hearing today about the possible impact of lifting the
eviction moratorium." He said the VA planned to push "significant
funding" to Supportive Services for Veteran Families, the VA program that
provides grants to private, nonprofit organizations and consumer cooperatives
for assistance to veteran families. He also noted that the VA and HUD no longer
bar veterans with other than honorable discharges from receiving HUD-VASH
vouchers and said that unemployed veterans who fall behind on their rent would
not be barred from rental assistance once they gain a job. "If they become employed, that will not
be held against them," Harris said.
A Failed Campaign to End
Veteran Homelessness Without directly criticizing the Trump administration,
Harris and Cho said that the vaunted effort begun in 2010 to end veteran
homelessness effectively had stalled from 2016-2020, with the number of
veterans in shelters or on the street consistently estimated in the range of
37,000, among a general U.S. homeless population of about 580,000. The
most recent HUD one-night estimate, in January 2020, put the number of homeless
veterans at 37,252. "This number does not account for the impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic, which has added to the nation's housing challenges,
including for veterans," Harris said. About one-third of the
communities who normally participate in the survey opted out this year because
of pandemic restrictions. HUD has no reliable estimate on how many veterans
have been homeless in 2021. Cho said HUD did not expect to do another homeless
veteran survey until 2022. Harris said one of the main problems in
getting homeless veterans off the streets was the nationwide lack of affordable
housing since the height of the pandemic. To address the housing crisis, Harris
said in his written testimony that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan,
signed into law by President Joe Biden in March, included more than $10 billion
in funding for individuals who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness. He
also said Biden's proposed American Jobs Plan would invest nearly $150 billion
in grants and programs, "providing HUD with the tools and resources it
needs to build and modernize millions of affordable and sustainable places to
live and revitalize communities nationwide."
The HUD and VA outlines to renew
the drive to end veteran homelessness received pushback from Reps. Barry Moore,
R-Ala., and Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., who both questioned whether VA and HUD
were overspending. By his estimate, VA and HUD would be spending $41,963 apiece
for each of the 37,252 homeless veterans in HUD's 2020 survey, Moore said.
"This is an extraordinary amount of money." Harris said Moore failed
to consider the turnover in the veteran homeless population, noting that VA and
HUD served about three times the 37,252 number during the course of a year. He
also said VA and HUD had programs serving about 300,000 veterans that aimed to
keep them in their homes and out of shelters and off the streets. Cawthorn said
he was outraged that homeless veterans were not taking advantage of the
expanding jobs market. "I cannot reject what I just heard more
strongly," he said of the calls by homeless advocates for an extension of
the eviction moratorium and expanded rental assistance. The moratorium was put
in place "because people were not able to go out and get a job because of
COVID-19," but currently about nine million jobs are available, he said.
The jobs were not being taken "because the federal government is literally
sending people paychecks to sit at home," an apparent reference to
expanded unemployment benefits, Cawthorn said. "It's absolutely
ridiculous. The moratorium on rent has got to end," Cawthorn said.
"It's absolutely insane. It's destroying so many of these landlords'
lives, because so many people are unwilling to go out and get a job. It's
disgusting, and it's un-American." Harris and Cho did not respond to
Cawthorn's charges, but Cho added perspective on the veteran homelessness issue
in his written testimony. "When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the
United States and Americans across the country were told to stay safe by
staying home, there were more than half a million Americans who could not do so
because they had no home to stay in," Cho said. "That includes over 37,000 Veterans who,
after serving and sacrificing in our nation's military, were sleeping either in
congregate shelters with beds spaced not six feet, but inches apart, or forced
to sleep outside, face the elements, and be without access to hygiene and other
facilities."
^ Veteran Homelessness is a very
serious problem (even before Covid) that is only going to be even more
widespread very soon. Any man or woman who served the United States – putting their
lives on the line for us - should not have
to now worry about where they will sleep or what they will eat. Allowing even 1
Veteran to go hungry or to be homeless means that we have failed every Veteran.
^
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