Political Quotes

“San Diego County is home to over 230,000 veterans. Each year thousands of servicemembers exit the military and choose to stay in San Diego. It has been one of my greatest priorities in Congress to support those in the Armed Forces transitioning back into civilian life. The transition can be tougher for some people than for others. Many veterans struggle with mental health conditions like post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury, and they may turn to alcohol or drugs to deal with these mental health issues. Studies have shown that the top two risk factors to becoming homeless are mental health issues and substance use disorders. The next biggest risk factor is economic insecurity. In expensive regions like ours, rising housing costs can exacerbate these risks and drive up the rate of homelessness. In our county we have over 1,000 veterans experiencing homelessness. We have made serious progress, as my colleague, Mr. Hill, said, here in Congress in reducing the number of veterans experiencing homelessness primarily due to the HUD-VA Supportive Housing, or HUD- VASH, voucher program, which aims to serve chronically homeless veterans. HUD-VASH recognizes housing first as the best way to end homelessness and couples rental assistance with case management services from the VA. Since this partnership was forged between HUD and VA in 2019, the rate of veteran homelessness has been cut in half.…”