Mayors call on Congress to help with homeless crisis
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WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — A group of nearly 50 mayors are in Washington this week calling on Congress and the White House to do more to help cities manage what they describe as a homeless crisis.
The group says the federal government must prioritize getting veterans off the streets.
During a Tuesday press conference outside the Capitol, they said veterans are ineligible for federal housing assistance because their VA benefits put them above the income threshold.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass chairs the U.S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on Homelessness. She says too many landlords refuse to take federal housing vouchers.
“We actually have vacant units and unused vouchers for veterans because of a technicality,” said Bass, “This is America in the 21st century, the richest country in the world no one should be unhoused.”
The bipartisan group of mayors is pushing Congress and the White House to cut red tape that blocks veterans and other vulnerable populations from getting the help they need.
David Holt, the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City, says half of the big city top 50 Republican mayors are united behind the effort to expand vouchers.
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