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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Mayor Karen Bass will spend a third day in Washington Wednesday co-leading a group of mayors lobbying Biden Administration officials and members of Congress to expand veteran eligibility for housing vouchers, lift the cap on project-based vouchers to provide cities with flexibility to build more affordable and supportive housing, and advocate for increased funding for housing choice vouchers.
On Tuesday, Bass expressed confidence in winning bipartisan support for changes in regulations to remove hurdles to provide housing for veterans experiencing homelessness.
During an afternoon news conference outside the Capitol, Bass -- who is co-leading a group of 48 mayors, including Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson and Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock -- said veterans "should never sleep one night outside on our streets."
"There are solutions to this crisis -- so while we're fighting day in and day out to get people off the street, we have to bring the fight here to Washington, D.C. so that we can look at rules and regulations that need to be tossed aside, given the magnitude of the problem that we have today," Bass said.
Rep. Mark Takano, the ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said during the news conference the committee is working to provide aid to disabled homeless veterans because there is not enough housing built specifically to meet their needs.
Takano, D-Riverside, echoed the delegation's concerns over veterans having to decide between receiving housing over other benefits.
"Right now, veterans who receive total or near total disability compensation are not able to access affordable housing in many parts of our country because their VA benefits put them over the eligibility," Takano said.
Takano noted that Congress will seek to update formulas used to determine veterans' eligibility for housing assistance.
The latest point-in-time survey of homelessness conducted in January 2023 found there were more than 35,000 veterans without a home, a 7.4% increase over the previous year, according to a report released in December by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"That's where the mayors come in," Takano said. "We will need the help of all of these mayors and then some -- mayors across the country -- to make sure their cities and states work with us to identify and implement the fix to this problem."
The mayoral delegation met Tuesday with Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas; Patty Murray, D-Washington; Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Tina Smith, D-Minnesota; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island; and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York; and Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles; Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands; Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts; Tom Cole, R- Oklahoma; and Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut.
The mayor's office noted that in these meetings, both Republican and Democratic senators and representatives, have shown support for the ideas presented by the delegation to seeking to reduce homelessness.
Bass is leading the delegation in her role as chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on Homelessness, along with Reno, Nevada Mayor Hillary Schieve, the conference's president.
On Monday, the delegation met with Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and acting U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Adrianne Todman and White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients.
According to the mayor's office, their discussion with Todman focused on ensuring no veteran is forced to choose between receiving their benefits and accepting housing. The delegation spoke with McDonough about actions the Department of Veterans Affairs is taking to bring more unhoused veterans inside and how local leaders can collaborate on providing assistance.
Becerra, who chairs the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, spoke on federal action to assist unhoused individuals with mental and physical health services.
The group also met with Zients and other key White House officials Monday including Tom Perez, the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, Neera Tanden, Biden's top domestic policy adviser, and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young.
The group also met with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R- Louisiana, Monday to discuss their shared bipartisan approach on solving homelessness, as well as with Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Whittier.
Bass is returning to Los Angeles on Wednesday in response to protests and violence that erupted at UCLA. She was previously scheduled to return from Washington, D.C. on Friday.