Codifies Bringing Veterans Home Initiative.

S1838 1R

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 1838

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Senator TROY SINGLETON

District 7 (Burlington)

Senator ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT

District 31 (Hudson)

Co-Sponsored by:

Senators Diegnan, Beach, Amato and Moriarty

SYNOPSIS

���� Codifies Bringing Veterans Home Initiative.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As reported by the Senate Budget and Appropriations
Committee on June 24, 2026, with amendments.

��

An Act
codifying
the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative
in the Office of Homelessness Prevention and supplementing
P.L.2019, c.73.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.� The Commissioner of
Community Affairs, in coordination with the Department of Veterans Affairs,
shall establish, administer, support, and promote the Bringing Veterans Home
Initiative.� The objective of the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative shall be to
provide access to safe and stable housing to every unhoused or homeless veteran
in the State.� In order to promote the initiative, the commissioner shall
direct the Director of the Office of Homelessness Prevention, in coordination
with the Department of Veterans Affairs, to:

���� a.� establish and maintain six
regional hubs to be tasked to accelerate housing outcomes for veterans in the
region;

���� b.� utilize State data
concerning veteran homelessness to determine areas of need and effective
interventions;

���� c.� establish and maintain a
standardized referral form, which the Office of Homelessness Prevention and the
Department of Veterans Affairs shall publish on their respective Internet
websites;

���� d.� adopt one or more
classifications of veterans eligible for participation in, and receipt of
different forms of assistance under, the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative;

���� e.� assist, to the extent
feasible, access to benefits through the Homeless Prevention Program,
established to implement the �Prevention of Homelessness Act (1984),� P.L.1984,
c.180 (C.52:27D-280 et al.), emergency assistance benefits issued to Work First
New Jersey recipients pursuant to section 8 of P.L.1997, c.14 (C.44:10-51), and
any other benefits and housing placement programs, identified by the director,
that may contribute to housing veterans;

���� f.� administer and maintain
the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative launched in the Department of Community
Affairs
1
[
and
]

, in
coordination with
1

the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
,
in 2024; and

���� g.� establish and operate any
other goals and programming deemed appropriate by the
1
[
Office of
Homelessness Prevention, upon consultation with the
]
1
Department of Community
Affairs and the Department of Veterans Affairs, to effectuate the goals of the
Bringing Veterans Home Initiative.

���� 2.� The Commissioner of
Community Affairs, in consultation with the Department of Veterans Affairs, in
accordance with the �Administrative Procedure Act,� P.L.1968, c.140 (C.52:14B-1
et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the provisions of
P.L.��� , c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).�
The Commissioner of Community Affairs and the Commissioner of the Department of
Veterans Affairs shall publish on their respective Internet websites the
standardized referral form established pursuant to subsection c. of section 1
of P.L.��� , c.��� (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill).

���� 3.� This act shall take effect
on the first day of the
1
[
sixth
]

12th
1
month next
following enactment.