The Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs celebrates an announcement Thursday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announcing a new set of policy changes for which MVA and others had been advocating.

Veterans experiencing homelessness will no longer be disqualified based on their service- connected disability benefits from supportive housing projects subsidized by project-based rental assistance through the HUD-Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program.

Prior to this adjustment, these benefits were considered income when determining eligibility for housing assistance, causing some veterans to exceed the income threshold for these programs. Henceforth, veterans will not be denied admission to supportive housing subsidized by HUD-VASH due to their service-connected disability benefits.
Additionally, HUD announced today they have awarded $20 million to public housing agencies to continue to improve the HUD-VASH program.

“No veteran should have to choose between housing assistance and the benefits they’ve earned,” said MVA Director Jim Zenner. “This critical change in policy removes a major obstacle between the two. HUD and the VA should be commended for bringing us one step closer to ending veteran homelessness.”

According to HUD, they are expanding access to HUD-VASH for veterans by:

– “Requiring public housing agencies (PHAs) that administer HUD-VASH to set the initial income eligibility for veterans at 80% of Area Median Income, rather than 50% of Area Median Income. The use of this higher initial income eligibility threshold is currently optional, but HUD is now making this increase mandatory

– “Adopting an alternative definition of annual income for applicants and participants of the HUD-VASH program that excludes veterans’ service-connected disability benefits when determining eligibility”

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose Fifth District includes the Santa Clarita Valley, issued the following statement Thursday in response to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development change in policy.

The full statement below:

“This is an overdue and much welcomed policy change. Raising the income eligibility threshold and excluding service-connected disability benefits is undoubtedly a good move that’ll have a big ripple effect in Los Angeles County.

Each brave man and woman who has served this country deserves to draw down every bit of support they’ve earned with a lot of sacrifice. Morally, this federal policy change was the right call.”