The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pays a daily rate through its Grant and Per Diem Program to entities that provide housing and other supportive services to homeless veterans. H.R. 5606 would increase the maximum amount of those payments.
Under current law, the rate for per diem grants to community organizations for housing and supportive services is about $76; the rate paid to grant recipients for transitional housing is $59 per veteran. Using information from VA, CBO estimates that those amounts would increase by 33 percent and 74 percent, respectively. In 2023, VA expects to allocate about $190 million for per diem grants and about $50 million for grants for transitional housing. Using those funding levels, CBO estimates that increasing the rates would increase total program costs by an average of $178 million annually and total $1,742 million over the 2023-2032 period.
