Wendy Sherman: “Congress over the years has created Federal programs that help the housing insecure, particularly veterans. Of course…”

“Congress over the years has created Federal programs that help the housing insecure, particularly veterans. Of course, to qualify for these programs, you need to have income under a certain threshold. However, we have to focus on how to calculate that income level. Particularly, do you include disability benefits in the income of those seeking this housing? It is usually homeless people seeking the housing. I think that you should not, especially when the effect of considering that disability payment is to deny housing to a homeless disabled veteran. Our Internal Revenue Code already recognizes that disability benefits paid to veterans are not to be considered income. At our urging, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has reached the same conclusion, at least for now. Mr. Speaker, it is time for us to have statutory provisions that make it clear that disability benefits paid by the VA should not be included in calculating eligibility for veterans housing. The reason for that is that we cannot assume that two people with equivalent incomes are living at the same level because someone who is disabled has additional challenges. That is why they are receiving the disability benefits. Being disabled is expensive. It requires aides. It means that you can't get across town or go even a few miles to take advantage of a store that is offering goods at a lower price. Disability benefits partially compensate for the disability.…”