Menendez seeks to provide homeless veteran relief

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2007

CONTACTS:
Afshin Mohamadi (Menendez) 202-224-4744

Homes for Heroes Act would provide support to nation’s 200,000 veterans in need

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today joined Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in introducing the Homes for Heroes Act, a bill that would expand housing and rental assistance for homeless veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates that approximately 200,000 adult veterans live on the streets or in shelters on any given day, and nearly twice as many are homeless at some point during the year.

“A grateful nation should work to ensure that the men and women who risked their lives serving their country are not left stranded when they fall on hard times back home,” said Menendez. “Just as we have acted to improve health care for injured veterans, we should act to make sure veterans can put a roof over their heads.”

“As we work to end the war in Iraq , we must also prepare to deal with the generation of service members returning home from war,” said Senator Obama. “As long as there are veterans or veteran family members searching for shelter on the streets, and as long as there are wounded service members receiving substandard medical care, we have failed in our duty to honor the commitment of the brave men and women who chose to serve. We must provide our returning heroes and their families with every resource they need to rebuild their lives.”

“As we’ve seen at Walter Reed and elsewhere, our veterans returning from war have not received the help and resources they deserve,” said Senator Schumer. “The thousands of homeless veterans are just another stark example of how the Administration has let our veterans down. This bill will right this wrong by providing the men and women who have served our country with housing assistance. Too many veterans need a roof over their heads and it’s time we provide it now.”

“There are more than 2,000 homeless veterans in Ohio . They fought for us. We should fight for them. That's what this bill is about, and I am proud to support it,” Senator Brown said