North Coast California News

Oceanside, CA -- On Thursday, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) brought Members of Congress together for a House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity field hearing on veteran homelessness in the San Diego region. Regional and local stakeholders provided testimony on housing programs, the challenges unhoused veterans face in obtaining stable, affordable housing, and potential solutions. Video of the hearing is available here.
The Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity has legislative, oversight, and investigative jurisdiction over the education of veterans, the employment and training of veterans, vocational rehabilitation, veterans’ housing programs, and the transition of servicemembers to civilian life.

House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Ranking Member Mark Takano (D-CA), Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Chairman Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), and Representative Young Kim (R-CA) also participated in the hearing.

The witnesses included Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) San Diego Healthcare System Director Dr. Frank Pearson, City of Oceanside Housing and Neighborhood Services Director Leilani A. Hines, San Diego County Director of Housing and Community Development David Estrella, and others.

“It was an honor to bring the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee to MiraCosta College here in Oceanside to discuss the urgent needs of our homeless veterans in the San Diego region and solutions to get them in stable, affordable housing. There is not a single cure-all to veteran homelessness – we must take a multi-faceted approach to address the underlying needs of each individual veteran to ultimately end homelessness,” said Rep. Levin. “I approach my work on this Subcommittee as the proud grandson of a World War II veteran. I grew up with a deep appreciation for his service and I’m incredibly grateful for the service of American men and women around the world who have dedicated their lives to the same mission as my grandfather, keeping our nation safe and free. That’s why we must do everything possible to help our nation’s veterans and end veteran homelessness,” said Rep. Levin.

Takeaways from the hearing include:

• There is bipartisan commitment on the committee to ensure veterans are not restricted from accessing affordable housing due to their disability compensation being factored into income eligibility requirements,  
• Public housing authorities and VA must partner with housing developers to expand the use of project-based HUD-VASH housing vouchers in the region in order to create a dedicated housing stock for homeless veterans, and 
• Testimony from the witnesses reinforced what it takes to end veteran homelessness: urgency, resources, flexibility, and coordination.
• There are approximately as many unused HUD-VASH vouchers in San Diego County as there are homeless veterans. Achieving full utilization of these vouchers – through strategies such as expanding eligibility, improving coordination, and cutting red tape – would virtually eliminate veteran homelessness in the region.

Original source can be found here.