Disabled Veterans Housing Support Act
The Disabled Veterans Housing Support Act would change how HUD programs determine who is eligible for housing assistance. Specifically, it would require states, local governments, and Indian tribes to ignore (not count) service-connected disability compensation paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs when calculating a person’s income for eligibility under HUD’s low-, moderate-, or low-income thresholds. In short, veterans with VA disability benefits could become newly eligible for certain HUD housing programs because those benefits would not be treated as income for eligibility purposes. The bill also creates a reporting requirement. Within one year of enactment, the Comptroller General would study how service-connected disability compensation is treated across HUD programs, identify inconsistencies, and offer legislative recommendations to better serve veterans and underserved communities.
Key Points
- 1Excludes VA service-connected disability compensation from income calculations used to determine eligibility for HUD programs at the state, local government, and tribal levels.
- 2Applies to determining whether a person is low and moderate income, low income, or moderate income under the relevant HUD program rules.
- 3Targets programs administered by HUD (and the agencies and jurisdictions that implement them).
- 4Requires a Comptroller General report within one year, examining treatment of disability compensation across HUD programs, identifying inconsistencies, and proposing legislative recommendations to better serve veterans and underserved communities.
- 5The act is titled the “Disabled Veterans Housing Support Act” and represents a policy change (income counting) rather than an appropriation or new funding.