More veterans experiencing homelessness in Orange County will benefit from a federal policy change that will no longer consider veterans’ disability benefits as income when they go to apply for housing vouchers and rental assistance.
Before the policy change, which took effect on Aug. 13, according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesperson Andra Higgs, veterans’ disability benefits were counted as income when determining their eligibility for rental assistance through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program, known as HUD-VASH.
That meant some veterans exceeded the income threshold — previously 50% of a region’s median income — for housing programs designed for them, Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, said at a press conference Thursday, Aug. 15, to highlight the policy change.
The policy change also ups that threshold to 80%.
Melanie McQueen, who serves as the Orange County regional director for PATH, a nonprofit that works with individuals, families and communities experiencing homelessness, including veterans, said the group’s teams would frequently encounter veterans who wouldn’t qualify for housing vouchers due to income eligibility restrictions.
HUD’s policy changes, she said, is going to reduce those barriers, getting more veterans into homes and, in turn, also help address the state’s homelessness crisis. In Orange County, according to the latest point-in-time count from January, of the 7,322 people the county surveyed who were experiencing homelessness, 328 were veterans.
Sara Kintzle, an associate research professor at USC who led the recently published study, “The State of the American Veteran: The Southern California Veterans Study,” said the change will benefit not only the veterans currently experiencing homelessness, but those who are at risk of losing what housing they do have.
“This will benefit not only the veterans experiencing homelessness but also those who are experiencing housing insecurity, who often can’t get help until they’re homeless,” she said.
The study, which queried more than 3,000 veterans from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, found that housing insecurity across all three counties was quite high, Kintzle said. According to the study, more than 80% of veterans reported having housing problems.
“Orange County housing is costly,” she said. “And we could be doing a lot more to think about prevention, how do we keep veterans from ending up unhoused. This is a really important step toward that.”
Levin said the change will make a “tremendous impact in getting homeless veterans off the streets and into affordable housing units.”
“We know that having a stable home produces better life outcomes and our veterans deserve nothing less. Now, veterans will not have their disability benefits held against them when applying for rental assistance,” he said. “Our nation’s heroes should never go hungry, unemployed, or without a place to call home.”
Levin is the leading Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, which has jurisdiction over various veterans’ issues including education, employment and housing.
Additionally, HUD last week awarded $20 million to 245 public housing authorities for additional administrative fees, said Higgs. In Orange County, the Orange County Housing Authority has been allocated $331,705 from the $20 million award, and the Anaheim Housing Authority has been given $33,202, she said.
“HUD regional leadership team is currently working with public housing authorities and stakeholders to develop roll-out plans,” Higgs said.
Orange County Housing Authority spokesperson Alexa Pratt said OCHA has reviewed the updated regulations to the HUD-VASH program and will be making the changes required in the notice. Additionally, HUD is hosting a webinar for OCHA next week to provide implementation guidance, she said.
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