Rep. Mike Levin Applauds HUD Actions to Combat Veteran Homelessness & Expand Access to Affordable Housing
Rep. Levin’s Advocacy Pushes HUD to Enact Policy Changes That Will Not Tie Veterans’ Rental Assistance to Disability Benefits
Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49), Ranking Member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, applauded the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for enacting policy changes that will help homeless veterans access rental assistance for affordable housing units. HUD’s new policies will no longer consider service-connected disability benefits as income and therefore allow more veterans to access HUD-VASH housing vouchers. Before this change, these benefits were considered income when determining eligibility for housing assistance—causing some veterans to exceed the income threshold for these housing programs. This especially presented a problem for veterans hoping to use their HUD-VASH vouchers for units funded by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which has a stricter income threshold. Going forward, veterans will not be denied admission to supportive housing subsidized by HUD-VASH due to their service-connected disability benefits.
California is home to around one third of all homeless veterans in the United States. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) point-in-time count from January 2023, there were nearly 11,000 homeless veterans in California.
“These policy changes strengthen an important tool to combat veteran homelessness by giving veterans access to rental assistance that will get them into affordable housing units,” said Rep. Levin. “For too long, veterans in need have been denied housing because their disability benefits put them over the income eligibility threshold. That was a policy miscalculation, and these changes rectify that mistake so that disability benefits will no longer count as income. I applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for acting and heeding my call to do more to help homeless veterans by making this change. Our nation’s heroes should never go hungry, unemployed, or without a place to call home.”
These HUD changes are a direct result of Rep. Levin’s advocacy and Congressional work to exclude veterans’ benefits from being counted as income for the purposes of qualifying for rental assistance. For almost two years, Rep. Levin has worked with the White House’s Domestic Policy Council and HUD to push for these policy changes in order to give veterans more access to housing vouchers and rental assistance.
In December 2022, Rep. Levin sent a letter to HUD and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requesting the Final Rule implementing the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 include language excluding veteran disability compensation from income calculations for the purposes of HUD programs. This language was not included in the Final Rule published in February 2023. In May 2024, Rep. Levin and Rep. Brad Sherman (CA-32) introduced H.R. 8340, the Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act, a bipartisan bill to exclude disability compensation and pension benefits received by a veteran from HUD’s definition of income for the purposes of HUD-VASH and other types of housing assistance for any household receiving HUD-VASH rental assistance. Rep. Levin also joined Veterans Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano, Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, and mayors from around the country at a press conference in May 2024 to call for the Administration to make this change.
Ultimately, Rep. Levin’s actions pushed HUD to enact today’s changes that are another step towards ending veteran homelessness across the country.
“No veteran should ever have to experience homelessness, but when they do, they should not face barriers to getting help they deserve,” said Acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman. “This policy change will ensure that veterans who are receiving the disability benefits they earned through service and sacrifice can access the housing assistance and supportive services they need to resolve their homelessness.”
“The days of a Veteran having to choose between getting the VA benefits they deserve and the housing support they need are finally over,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “This is a critical step forward that will help Veterans nationwide – and bring us one step closer to our ultimate goal of putting an end to Veteran homelessness for good.”
“Every veteran deserves a roof over their head, and the Biden-Harris Administration is doing everything we possibly can to end veteran homelessness,” said White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden. Today’s actions reflect President Biden and Vice President Harris’s commitment to breaking down barriers to housing so that every veteran gets the benefits they have earned.”
Background on HUD’s Policy Changes
The HUD-VASH Program is a vital resource to house veterans experiencing homelessness. HUD-VASH pairs rental assistance through housing vouchers targeted to veterans experiencing homelessness from HUD with case management and other supportive services provided by VA. VA homeless program staff at local VA medical centers identify veterans experiencing homelessness and refer them to public housing agencies who issue vouchers to eligible veteran and their families. VA staff provide case management and other “wrap-around” supportive services to assist the veteran household to find and enter rental housing, retain housing, and connect to health care, employment, and other supports.
HUD is expanding access to HUD-VASH for veterans by:
- Requiring public housing agencies (PHAs) that administer HUD-VASH to set the initial income eligibility for veterans at 80% of Area Median Income, rather than 50% of Area Median Income. The use of this higher initial income eligibility threshold is currently optional, but HUD is now making this increase mandatory.
- Adopting an alternative definition of annual income for applicants and participants of the HUD-VASH program that excludes veterans’ service-connected disability benefits when determining eligibility.
HUD has been working with the U.S. Department of the Treasury to determine the effect of the alternative income definition for HUD-VASH participants seeking housing subsidized by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). Treasury expects to issue guidance on this issue in the near term. This will ensure that veterans can use their HUD-VASH vouchers for units funded by LIHTC. HUD will also encourage state and local governments to make corresponding changes in their subsidy programs to ensure that all veterans experiencing homelessness have access to supportive housing.
The revised HUD-VASH operating requirements also include additional policy changes that will improve the administration of the HUD-VASH program. This will allow PHAs the authority to:
- Make non-competitive awards of project-based HUD-VASH contracts to housing projects or units on VA facilities that serve HUD-VASH families;
- Approve Exception Payment Standards as a Reasonable Accommodations up to 140% of the Fair Market Rent;
- Set a separate minimum rent policy (including a zero minimum rent) for HUD-VASH participants.
In addition to these policy changes, HUD awarded $20 million available for additional administrative fee funding to 245 public housing agencies in 43 states currently administering HUD-VASH. With this funding, PHAs are encouraged to expand their housing search assistance to support veterans, expand landlord recruitment for the program, offer incentives and retention payments, help veterans with security deposits, and provide landlord-tenant mediation activities.
Since the program’s inception, HUD-VASH has assisted more than 200,000 veterans to exit homelessness and obtain permanent affordable housing. The HUD-VASH program has been the cornerstone of our nation’s success in reducing the number of veterans experiencing homelessness by more than 50% since 2010.
The revised HUD-VASH operating requirements can be found here.
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