Cities Urge Department of Veterans Affairs to Continue Dedicated Veteran Homelessness Funding

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following reports that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is backtracking on a proposal to reallocate $460 million away from HUD-VASH, a program that supports homeless Veterans, National League of Cities (NLC) President Mark Stodola, mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas, released the following statement:

"Cities thank Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin for reversing his decision to reallocate almost half a billion dollars away from programs to help homeless Veterans. I can tell you firsthand that these programs work — since 2008, about 130,000 homeless veterans have found permanent housing, decreasing the total population by almost 50 percent. We urge Secretary Shulkin to honor his commitment and ensure these critical resources remain specifically dedicated to helping city leaders end veteran homelessness."

Last month, all 14 members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies sent a letter to Sec. Shulkin urging the VA to reconsider its decision to move dedicated HUD-VASH funds to general purpose funds. Since 2015, 60 communities across 30 states have functionally ended veteran homelessness with help from critical federal programs dedicated to serving homeless veterans.

City leaders know that progress happens when public-private partnerships are created and properly resourced. As VA solicits input regarding how to best target funding geographically, local elected officials urge a process that is open and transparent to all stakeholders. 

The recent actions have created a high degree of uncertainty in communities across the country. NLC believes VA and its federal partners at HUD and USICH would be well served to issue a clarifying statement regarding the status of VA's HUD-VASH resources to mitigate uncertainty at the local level.

Additional reporting on this story may be found here:

• Washington Post — "VA tried to reallocate $460 million earmarked for homeless veterans. Now it says that won't happen."
• POLITICO — "VA kills plan to cut homeless-vet program after outcry" 
• Business Insider — "Trump administration backtracks on cuts to program helping homeless veterans after outrage"

The National League of Cities (NLC) is dedicated to helping city leaders build better communities. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans. www.nlc.org

SOURCE National League of Cities

Related Links

www.nlc.org