VA Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program; Religious Organizations

This document adopts with changes the provisions of a proposed rule that revised the regulations concerning the VA Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program (Program). Specifically, the proposed rule revised provisions that apply to religious organizations that receive Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) funds under the Program to ensure that VA activities under the Program are open to all qualified organizations, regardless of their religious character, and to clearly establish the proper uses to which funds may be put, and the conditions for the receipt of such funding. Consistent with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the proposed rule removed the regulatory prohibition against religious organizations making employment decisions on a religious basis; as such organizations do not forfeit that exemption when administering VA- funded programs. Also, the proposed rule ensured that direct government funds are not used for inherently religious activities.