Mark Takano: “Reclaiming my time. I am grateful that I hear some kernel that they will work with us in a bipartisan way. What does…”

“Reclaiming my time. I am grateful that I hear some kernel that they will work with us in a bipartisan way. What does worry me is the gentleman mentioned over the next few months. I can maybe tolerate the next few months in terms of can we come to an agreement by the fall when the temperatures start to fall, but even the hot summers, in some parts of the country, would require us to work much more expeditiously. These pandemic authorities that expanded our ability to help veterans who are homeless expired on May 11. For the last 11 days, VA and its community partners have operated with fewer authorities and less funding to help homeless veterans. VA's ability to quickly bring a veteran in off the streets and get them the services they need to put them on their way to stable, permanent housing has been greatly diminished. Prior to the pandemic, we were maintaining the status quo. The number of veterans experiencing homelessness had remained basically stagnant year after year for quite some time. For every veteran housed, another veteran would fall into homelessness. During the pandemic we approached the homelessness crisis head on and with the urgency it has long deserved. It is incredible to me that we were able to reduce homelessness during COVID-19 by 11 percent. During the darkest days of that pandemic, VA actually reduced homelessness by 11 percent. It permanently housed over 40,000 veterans last year alone.…”