Homeless veterans who were wounded, injured or became sick during their time in uniform will no longer have their disability benefits counted against them in the struggle to find affordable housing.
In the face of an ongoing class-action suit brought by veterans in Los Angeles, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, announced Thursday that the rule, which counted service-connected disability benefits as income in deciding whether veterans qualified for housing vouchers, is being scrapped.
In a press release, HUD said that the policy change will help more veterans receive assistance under the HUD-Department of Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) voucher program.
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Before the rule was changed, veterans receiving disability benefits, which can range up to more than $40,000 annually for 100% disability, could be denied HUD-VASH vouchers for exceeding the income threshold accepted by many low-income supportive housing developments.
Not even the Internal Revenue Service rates veteran disability benefits as income, but HUD had been counting the benefits against income thresholds for housing vouchers since the policy was first put in place in 2008.
In announcing the rule change Thursday, HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman said in a statement, "No veteran should ever have to experience homelessness, but when they do, they should not face barriers to getting help they deserve.
"This policy change will ensure that veterans who are receiving the disability benefits they earned through service and sacrifice can access the housing assistance and supportive services they need to resolve their homelessness," Todman added.
In an email statement to Military.com, HUD said there was no data available on how many veterans had been turned down for housing assistance since the rule counting disability benefits as income was enacted in 2008.
The one million-member Disabled American Veterans service organization said complaints about housing voucher denials were near constant from its membership.
"We've heard enough from our members that this is something they'll be very pleased to hear about," Marquis Barefield, assistant national legislative director for DAV, said in a phone interview.
The HUD announcement of the rules change came on the third day of a non-jury trial before federal District Court Judge David O. Carter in Los Angeles in a class-action suit brought by homeless veterans at the sprawling West Los Angeles VA Medical Center against the city, county, state and the U.S. government on a wide range of policies affecting homeless veterans.
In a summary judgment in May, Carter already ruled that the counting of disability benefits as income in determining eligibility for housing vouchers was "facially discriminatory."
"The VA and HUD argue that it is the third-party developers, not the agencies themselves" who impose the income limits, Carter said in his ruling, but the "defendants cannot outsource discrimination. Those who gave the most cannot receive the least."
In a statement, Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with the law firm Public Counsel representing the veterans in the class-action suit before Carter, said that the HUD rule change on benefits "is welcomed but years overdue."
"It shouldn't take a lawsuit, and a federal judge's ruling that found the policy to be unlawful and discriminatory, to end a cruel and insane practice that has kept our most disabled veterans on the streets instead of in housing," Rosenbaum said.
In a joint statement with HUD, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said that the HUD policy change on benefits income should boost the number of homeless veterans qualifying for HUD-VASH vouchers to get off the streets
"The days of a veteran having to choose between getting the VA benefits they deserve and the housing support they need are finally over," McDonough said. "This is a critical step forward that will help veterans nationwide and bring us one step closer to our ultimate goal of putting an end to veteran homelessness for good."
While the VA has touted its work to reduce veterans' homelessness, estimates show that the numbers may be increasing.
According to HUD's annual Point-in-Time (PIT) survey, on a single night in January 2023 about 653,000 people in the U.S. were homeless. Of that general population, about 35,500 were homeless veterans, an increase of 7.4% over 2022.
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