December marks the 22^nd anniversary of enactment into law of the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act (Public Law 107-95)—the historic law authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to create a whole-of-government approach to mitigate and ultimately end veterans homelessness.

          Smith’s pivotal legislation was the first comprehensive law directed at ending chronic homelessness among American veterans. It included provisions that strengthened domiciliary care programs, authorized important job training efforts, and expanded grants for incarcerated transition programs, including for incarcerated veterans. It also, for the first time, authorized VA coverage of dental care for homeless veterans in order to improve oral and digestive health and help veterans succeed when applying for jobs.

          “No veteran who courageously steps up and puts their life on the line to defend our great nation should be without a home in the country they served,” said Smith, who served as the Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and has an extensive record of enacting comprehensive veterans’ laws.

          “Shockingly, twenty-two years ago, almost 300,000 veterans were experiencing homelessness in the United States on any given night. It was a scandal,” Smith said. “Men and women, who served our country honorably, on the streets of America.

          Today, the number of homeless veterans on any given night has dropped to 33,129—still far too many, but a remarkable decline thanks not only to the programs included in my law, but also the important work of many VA partner organizations, and best practices that have been implemented and added over the years.” 

          Smith noted that it is critical that Congress continue to reauthorize, fund and build upon the veterans’ homeless assistance programs his legislation first created.

          “Just a few weeks ago, in the House of Representatives, we passed the Housing Our Military Veterans Effectively Act (HR 3848), legislation that will reauthorize and expand my original bill in a number of ways, including by increasing support for transitional housing for homeless veterans and by strengthening the Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program—which was first authorized by my law 22 years ago and which continues to provide significant assistance to veterans today.”