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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 14, 2022 10:27 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Katie J. Muth |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Veterans' Homelessness |
| In the near future, I will reintroduce companion legislation to a bill sponsored by Representative Carol Hill-Evans to support veterans experiencing homelessness. This was previously SB 677 from the 2021-2022 session. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that there were more than 700 homeless veterans in Pennsylvania. While that number has decreased over the years, there is more that we can do to help veterans in need. To help support those who bravely served our country and now find themselves struggling financially, we will be introducing legislation that would bring the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) together to provide assistance to veterans who are experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of experiencing homelessness. The DMVA would implement a program to identify these veterans, while the PHFA would establish a housing ombudsman to advocate for homeless veterans in the housing market. Under this legislation, eligible applicants would receive a maximum of $1,000 per month in the form of a rental voucher for a period of 12 months. The DMVA would be authorized to require veterans to participate in mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, job training, or other supportive programs as a condition of participation in its program.  With an appropriation of $12.5 million, the goal of our proposal is to ensure that enough funding is available to aid every homeless veteran in the Commonwealth. Please join us in our effort to prevent veterans’ homelessness in Pennsylvania. |
Introduced as SB89