Schneider Reintroduces Legislation to Support Homeless Veterans

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10) reintroduced the Homeless Veterans Assistance Fund Act in honor of Veterans Day. The legislation would create a convenient “check-off box” on annual tax returns for taxpayers to voluntarily choose to donate any portion of their tax refund to support programs to prevent and end veteran homelessness.

“We must not accept that over 33,000 of our veterans who bravely served to keep our country—our home—safe are forced to sleep on the streets, without a home to call their own, on any given night in America,” said Congressman Schneider. “We owe service members, veterans, and their families not just our gratitude, but our commitment to ensure that we always have their backs as they always had ours. Empowering Americans with a convenient way to donate a portion of their tax refundto support homeless veterans is a small, commonsense step to make it easier to give back to those who have sacrificed so much for our country.”

The funds raised through these tax-deductible, voluntary contributions from American taxpayers would be available to the Department of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the Departments of Labor and Housing and Urban Development, to invest in homeless veteran programs and the development and implementation of new, innovative strategies to prevent and end veteran homelessness. To ensure transparency and accountability, this legislation would require the administration to notify Congress 60 days in advance of any expenditures of the Homeless Veterans Assistance Fund and the President's annual budget submission to Congress to include a description of how the funds were spent in the previous fiscal year and proposed uses of funds for the next year.

The reintroduction of the Homeless Veterans Assistance Fund Act is part of Schneider’s greater commitment to advance legislation that supports our veterans, cares for them and their families, and lives up to the ideals that they fought, and in many cases, died defending. This Congress, Schneider helped pass into law the Training in High-demand Roles to Improve Veteran Employment (THRIVE) Act, which helps veterans pursue higher education or a new career, and the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (Honoring Our PACT) Act, which provides better access to benefits and health care for veterans who were exposed to toxic chemicals, such as those in burn pits, while on duty. Additionally, Schneider introduced and passed the Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Act in the House to codify the Boots to Business program to help veterans start and grow their own small businesses, and he introduced a resolution to celebrate the significant business contributions made by our veterans.

You can read the full text of the Homeless Veterans Assistance Fund Act here.

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