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Homeless-veteran advocates urge Congress to protect HUD‑VASH access, fund per‑diems and prevent grant pauses
Summary
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and others said federal grant pauses and staffing or contract changes could reverse hard-won reductions in veteran homelessness; they urged codifying disability-income exemptions for HUD‑VASH and protecting grant continuity.
Representatives of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and other organizations told the joint committees that recent federal staffing changes and unknown contract cancellations risk undermining recent progress in reducing veteran homelessness and urged Congress to safeguard funding and program continuity.
Catherine Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV), said veteran homelessness had fallen to the lowest level on record but that the reductions required sustained funding and reliable federal and local partnerships. "While the PIT is not a perfect measure of homelessness, it's the best national measure we have," she said, noting a 7 percent decrease since 2023 and a 55 percent decrease since 2009. Monet warned, however, that the recent speed and uncertainty of federal changes — including contract pauses and staff reductions — had placed grantees in a cash‑flow bind and complicated service delivery.
NCHV asked Congress to ensure HUD‑VASH vouchers and public housing authority partnerships remain properly resourced and to codify guidance exempting VA disability compensation from HUD‑VASH eligibility income tests and from LIHTC affordability calculations. Monet also urged expanding eligibility to veterans with other-than‑honorable discharges and to those in the National Guard who were not activated, where appropriate, to make homelessness services uniform across programs.
Witnesses and lawmakers described specific operational risks: cash‑flow shortfalls for community providers during a funding pause; a canceled enhanced‑use leasing contractor that handled life‑safety checks and case management for supportive housing; and potential interruptions to per‑diem payments to transitional housing providers. Committee members asked VA for rapid clarification of the contract and grant lists and requested assurances that HUD‑VASH and other homelessness programs would not suffer due to administrative pauses.
Advocates asked Congress to consider long‑term solutions to housing scarcity, including voucher expansions, source‑of‑income protections and sustained funding for per‑diem and supportive‑services programs that connect veterans to housing and case management.
Lawmakers said they would follow up with the VA and HUD to identify any immediate service gaps and to ensure grantees are able to continue operations while the committees review the administration's contract and staffing changes.
