Rhode Island Veterans Transitional Supportive Program for Homeless Veterans

Section 30-24-10.1 authorises a domiciliary care program for homeless veterans, the veterans transitional supportive program or V.T.S.P., at the Rhode Island Veterans' Home. Its point is the fee. A veteran admitted under this section is exempt from the ordinary maintenance fee assessment in section 30-24-10, which is eighty percent of net income. Instead the director assesses a monthly maintenance fee equal to ten percent of the veteran's monthly gross income, from whatever source derived and whether taxable or non-taxable. Ten percent of gross against eighty percent of net is the difference between a program a homeless veteran can use to rebuild and one that absorbs everything they have. The statute counts non-taxable income, so VA disability compensation is in the base, but at ten percent. There is a second tier. Additional beds called extended V.T.S.P. beds carry a monthly maintenance fee of thirty percent. Extended V.T.S.P. is available to veterans already in the program, and occupancy of an extended bed may not exceed four months. The fee is paid monthly to the home and deposited in the veterans' home fund. Failure to pay when due is cause for dismissal, and administrative due process must come before any dismissal for non-payment. The section gives the director authority to promulgate rules to effectuate its intent and says that grant of authority "shall be liberally construed", which is unusual drafting and gives the home room to shape the program. What the statute does not do is set an eligibility test of its own. It authorises a program at the home for homeless veterans, so the admission gates in section 30-24-10 and the home's rules govern who gets in: ninety days of service spanning a war or campaign, or a shorter tour with a resulting service-connected disability, an honorable discharge, and either entry into service from Rhode Island or two consecutive years of residence. No disability rating is involved, so the rating filter never hides this entry. A homeless Rhode Island veteran should also be pointed at the federal HUD-VASH voucher program and at the Veterans Justice Outreach and Veterans Treatment Court routes if there is a criminal matter in the picture, because those move on different timetables than a bed at Bristol.