Sponsored by:
Senator TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
Senator ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Diegnan and Testa
SYNOPSIS
Codifies Bringing Veterans Home Initiative.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act codifying the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative in the Office of Homelessness Prevention and supplementing P.L.2019, c.73.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Commissioner of Community Affairs, in coordination with the Department of Veterans Affairs, shall establish, administer, support, and promote the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative. The objective of the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative shall be to provide access to safe and stable housing to every unhoused or homeless veteran in the State. In order to promote the initiative, the commissioner shall direct the Director of the Office of Homelessness Prevention, in coordination with the Department of Veterans Affairs, to:
a. establish and maintain six regional hubs to be tasked to accelerate housing outcomes for veterans in the region;
b. utilize State data concerning veteran homelessness to determine areas of need and effective interventions;
c. establish and maintain a standardized referral form, which the Office of Homelessness Prevention and the Department of Veterans Affairs shall publish on their respective Internet websites;
d. adopt one or more classifications of veterans eligible for participation in, and receipt of different forms of assistance under, the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative;
e. assist, to the extent feasible, access to benefits through the Homeless Prevention Program, established to implement the “Prevention of Homelessness Act (1984),” P.L.1984, c.180 (C.52:27D-280 et al.), emergency assistance benefits issued to Work First New Jersey recipients pursuant to section 8 of P.L.1997, c.14 (C.44:10-51), and any other benefits and housing placement programs, identified by the director, that may contribute to housing veterans;
f. administer and maintain the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative launched in the Department of Community Affairs and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs in 2024; and
g. establish and operate any other goals and programming deemed appropriate by the Office of Homelessness Prevention, upon consultation with the Department of Community Affairs and the Department of Veterans Affairs, to effectuate the goals of the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative.
2. The Commissioner of Community Affairs, in consultation with the Department of Veterans Affairs, in accordance with the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.140 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). The Commissioner of Community Affairs and the Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall publish on their respective Internet websites the standardized referral form established pursuant to subsection c. of section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following enactment.
STATEMENT
On Veterans’ Day of 2024, Acting Governor Tahesha Way announced the launch of Bringing Veterans Home (initiative), to be led by the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) in coordination with the Department of Veterans Affairs. This bill codifies the initiative in statute.
The bill establishes statutory language concerning the initiative and requires the DCA to promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate the provisions of the bill. The goal of the initiative is to provide access to safe and stable housing to every unhoused or homeless veteran in the State.
Specifically, the bill directs the Office of Homelessness Prevention in the DCA to: (1) establish and maintain six regional hubs to be tasked to accelerate housing outcomes for veterans in the region; (2) utilize State data concerning veteran homelessness to determine areas of need and effective interventions; (3) establish, maintain, and publish a standardized referral form; (4) adopt one or more classifications of veterans eligible for participation in, and receipt of different forms of assistance under, the initiative; (5) assist veterans, to the extent feasible, in accessing appropriate benefits and housing placement programs; (6) maintain the Department of Community Affairs and Department of Veterans Affairs Bringing Veterans Home Initiative launched in 2024; and (7) establish and operate any other goals and programming deemed appropriate by the Office of Homelessness Prevention. The bill would take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following enactment.