SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1838

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 24, 2026

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 1838.

     As amended and reported, this bill codifies Bringing Veterans Home (initiative) in statute.  The bill establishes statutory language concerning the initiative and requires the Department of Community Affairs (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 Bringing Veterans Home Initiative announced in 2024; and (7) establish and operate any other goals and programming deemed appropriate.  

     The bill is to take effect on the first day of the 12th month next following enactment.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1)  reflect that the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative was launched in the DCA in coordination with the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs; 

      (2)  specify that the Commissioner of Community Affairs is required to direct the Director of the Office of Homelessness Prevention, in coordination with the Department of Veterans Affairs, to establish and operate any other goals and programming deemed appropriate by DCA and the Department of Veterans Affairs, to effectuate the goals of the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative; and 

      (3)  change the effective date to the first day of the 12th month, rather than the sixth month, next following enactment. 

FISCAL IMPACT:

      This bill has not been certified as requiring a fiscal note.