Bob Filner: “I want to also commend the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Quinn), for his leadership on…”

“I want to also commend the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Quinn), for his leadership on H.R. 3039, the Veterans Transitional Housing Opportunities Act for 1998. This bill, as the gentleman has explained, will provide the transitional housing so desperately needed by the hundreds of thousands of veterans who sleep on America's streets each night. There is virtually no disagreement that one-third of the homeless men in this country are veterans. In my hometown of San Diego, it is estimated that 40 to 50 percent of the homeless are veterans. I am very troubled that this very difficult problem never seems to get better. The number of homeless veterans never seems to decrease. I conclude from this that our approach must change. And although H.R. 3039 is not a panacea, I am convinced this program can provide the assistance and support necessary for homeless veterans to reestablish themselves as solid contributing citizens. This program emphasizes self-sufficiency by requiring housing providers to make available job counseling to veteran residents and by requiring veterans to find and keep a job and to pay a reasonable fee for their housing. H.R. 3039 will provide a hand up, not a handout.”