Congressman Steve Israel (D-Huntington) hosted a forum on ending veteran homelessness at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point Friday, touting a bill to help fund aid for veterans and hearing from stakeholders in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
“I want to be able to go back to Washington, D.C. when the Congress ends its summer recess with specific ideas to share with my colleagues,” Israel said.
Israel and the panelists, who included U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials Mirza Orriols and Rose Williamson and Howard Kimmel of the affordable housing group Kimmel Housing Development Foundation, described the plight of 60,000 currently homeless veterans as a pressing moral issue.
Among the solutions offered was federal legislation sponsored by Israel and Tim Murphy, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, to allow taxpayers to contribute to veterans’ services on their tax forms.
The Homeless Veterans Assistance Fund Act of 2013, which was introduced in July, would place a check box on federal tax forms that would allow taxpayers to earmark three dollars of their tax liability to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the purpose of enhancing services to homeless veterans.
That idea is based on an existing program which allows the earmarking of individual tax funds for the public financing of election campaigns.
“Why don’t we just do that for homeless veterans,” Israel said. “Why don’t we give Americans the ability to divert three dollars of their existing taxes to a national fund to end homeless veterans?”
This is not the first time Israel has introduced such legislation. Israel, along with fellow Long Island Congressman Peter King (R-Seaford), promoted a similar bill in 2008, according to a press release. Additional efforts to pass the bill were made in 2009 and 2011.
Israel also described the struggles of Joseph Soukup, a Vietnam veteran who, after years of living in poverty, attempted suicide in 2007. Israel said his office helped secure tens of thousand of dollars in benefits for Soukop after hearing his story.
“He didn’t have a house. He didn’t have a home. He didn’t have anything except his purple heart,” Israel said.
The number of homeless veterans has declined sharply in recent years but there is still more to be done, Israel said, adding that he hopes federal and local initiatives can eventually eliminate the problem.
