LANSING – A new bill aims to help disabled veterans stay in their homes by eliminating their property taxes, sponsors say.

The proposal from Sen. Glenn Anderson, D-Westland, would give municipalities the option to eliminate property taxes for disabled military veterans with incomes at or below twice the poverty level. That would require a single veteran to have an annual income of $20,420 or less.

“The intent here is to help people stay in their homes,” he said. “I think local governments will be very receptive to this.”

The bipartisan bill seeks to address the trend of rising homelessness among veterans. One in every four homeless person is a veteran, according to a recent report by the Homelessness Research Institute in Washington.

According to the report, there were 3,513 homeless veterans in Michigan in 2006, up from 3,110 in 2005.

“This (proposal) should have an impact on that,” Anderson said. “We’re trying to keep people from having taxes keep them out of a home.”

Mark Polsdofer, Anderson’s chief of staff, said, “We wanted to give something as an option to local governments to help them take care of these veterans.”

It would be up to the municipalities to decide how to deal with revenue lost by eliminating property taxes for these veterans, he said.

Other sponsors include Sens. Michael Prusi, D-Ishpeming; Tupac Hunter, D-Detroit; Dennis Olshove, D-Warren; Valde Garcia, R-Howell; Martha Scott, D-Highland Park; Gilda Jacobs, D-Huntington Woods; Michael Switalski, D-Roseville; Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing; and Irma Clark-Coleman, D-Detroit.

Another sponsor, Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, said, “We’re trying to help veterans on many levels.”

The proposal’s goal is similar to that of a 33-bill package introduced earlier this year. That package was presented as a way to make things easier for veterans returning from war, he said.

“We’ve been working hard on how to deal with the young men and women coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.

Those bills deal with things like prohibiting the lapse of life insurance polices and allowing children of active duty personnel who are transferred out of state to keep their in-state residency status.

About 16 of those bills have passed in the Senate, Allen said.

Bill Dobbie, legislative director for the Michigan Veterans of Foreign Wars, said his group favors the proposal.

The bill is awaiting review by the Senate Finance Committee.