PurpleheartOklahoma (scroll down)

A Push To Help US Veterans Fight Homelessness
by Pam Fessler April 16, 2012
http://vato21stcentury.blogspot.com/2012/04/veterans-chronic-homelessness.html

Last year, the number of homeless U.S. veterans on a given night dropped 12 percent from the year before. But tens of thousands were still on the streets, and more could be joining them as troops return from Afghanistan and Iraq. President Obama has vowed to end veterans' homelessness by 2015.

Homeless No More

James Brown left the Army in 1979. And for most of the next 32 years, he lived on the streets in and around Los Angeles. You might have seen him: the dirty, disheveled guy trying to keep warm in a cardboard box.

But today, Brown is a different man. Wearing sunglasses and an athletic outfit, he bounds up the stairs to his new home, a fourth-floor walk-up.

"Apres vous," he says, opening the door to a small, sparsely furnished studio apartment. For Brown, it might as well be a mansion.

"I got my own lights, refrigerator, a fan," he says.

He also has what he calls a spectacular view. All that's visible through the window is a brick wall. But Brown moves to one side and points to a sliver of sky.

"From here, this angle, it's incredible," he says. "Along the horizon, it's palm trees. They crest the top of this hill. And then just underneath are all these little quaint homes; it's like a quaint village. You'd swear you were in the Swiss Alps."

It's a far cry from where he used to live. Brown, who's on disability for mental and physical problems, is one of about 30,000 homeless veterans who have been moved into permanent housing in the past three years.

'Creating A System' To Help Vets

It's part of an ambitious campaign by the federal government, local agencies and nonprofits to help former servicemen — and a growing number of female veterans — who often are so down and out, they don't know where to turn.

"I believe we can absolutely do this," says Christine Marge of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, which is overseeing a project to end veterans' and chronic homelessness in the city. Marge is optimistic.

Pam Fessler/NPR A food tent on Venice Beach, west of Los Angeles, offers a meal to homeless people and others in need. A new project in the area has the goal of reducing the area's homeless military veterans.
"And that's not to say that there won't be veterans and other individuals who become homeless over time," she says. "But we're creating a system that can quickly identify those folks and move them back into housing."

Marge says the project has cut the red tape that often discourages veterans from seeking help. Last year, 2,000 vets were housed here using federal vouchers that also pay for services, such as medical care and counseling. She says it even saves money.

"When somebody is sleeping outside, they may be using the emergency room for their health care," Marge says. "They may be cycling in and out of prisons, and that's very costly."

A Call For More Help

For all the progress that's being made, there are still many veterans living outside — more than 67,000 nationally by the latest count. On Venice Beach, the homeless are as much a fixture as are the skateboarders and T-shirt vendors.

Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl looks around and is frustrated.

"I don't know what our president is thinking," he says. "2015 is just three years away, and we've not made a dent in the homeless issue. And I'm afraid as the wars either wind down or continue, they're going to continue to come out more and more seriously damaged."

Rosendahl says many of those returning from Afghanistan and Iraq have mental and physical scars that, if left untreated, could eventually lead to homelessness. He says they need more immediate help.

"The services have to be connected to that returning veteran from the get-go," he says. "And it has to be made simple and supportive. Because they're losing their energy, their minds — and then they end up on the street."

In fact, the Obama administration says it's trying to do more to prevent veterans from becoming homeless in the first place. It provided $100 million this year, for everything from counseling to things as simple as giving vets money to repair their cars so they don't lose work.

But Rosendahl and other advocates say there are other obstacles to keeping veterans off the streets. One is that it's not easy to find landlords willing to accept federal housing vouchers in an expensive city like Los Angeles. And they bemoan the fact that a huge veterans facility in West L.A. remains empty, when so many people need a place to stay.

Seeing An Enduring Challenge

"It scares me a little bit when I hear people from the government say we've got X number of days to end homelessness, X number of days. It's simply not realistic," says Stephen Peck, who runs the United States Veterans Initiative, a nonprofit that helps homeless vets.

Peck says he appreciates all the new attention, but permanent supportive housing — the current rage — might not be the answer for everyone. He says all veterans are different, and some might need other incentives to get back on their feet.

"If you got the last homeless guy off the street in June of 2015, July first, there'd be another homeless guy," Peck says.

He thinks there will have to be a constant process of reaching out to those who served their country but might need help for the rest of their lives.

VA Announces Funding Availability for the Homeless
Grant and Per Diem Program

Submitted by Paul Sutton for Salem-News.com
Expects to fund 600 beds across four priority areas; applications due May 30.

 
(WASHINGTON DC) - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the availability of funds for applications for assistance under the Per Diem Only component of VA's Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program. This Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) includes funding priorities for those applicants who will serve specific homeless veteran populations that are identified in this NOFA, or implement a new “Transition in Place” housing model to facilitate housing stabilization. This Notice contains information concerning the program, funding priorities, application process, and amount of funding available.

VA expects to fund approximately 450 beds over a three-year period under this NOFA for Funding Priority 1 (see section G. in the full NOFA for explanation of funding priorities). The maximum award of $1.2 million will support an average of 25 beds per night, per project, at the current maximum per diem rate of $38.90 – taking into consideration that the maximum per diem rate may increase in future years. VA expects to fund approximately 150 beds under Funding Priorities 2-4 for as long as the grantee meets the program requirements.

Funding priorities for this NOFA are:

Funding priority 1. – In an effort to promote increased housing stabilization, VA is encouraging eligible entities to use a “Transition in Place” housing model to aid in VA's efforts to end homelessness among veterans.

The concept of Transition in Place under this NOFA is for eligible entities to identify or convert existing suitable apartment-style housing where homeless veteran participants would receive time-limited supportive services optimally for a period of 6-12 months, but not to exceed 24 months. Upon completion, the veteran must be able to "transition in place" by assuming the lease or other long-term agreement, which enables the unit in which he or she resides to be considered the veteran's permanent housing.

Grantees are expected to replace units as they are converted to permanent housing in order to maintain the average number of bed days as stated in the application during the entire grant period. Once the veteran assumes the lease or other long-term agreement, VA will no longer provide funding for the unit under this NOFA.

VA offers current grantees the ability to convert existing Per Diem Only projects to this model. Current Capital grantees should contact the GPD Program Office to determine eligibility due to recapture and disposition requirements that may apply to their Capital grants.

Funding priority 2. – VA is offering the opportunity to rural applicants whose project sites have a Rural-Urban Commuting Area Code (RUCA) of 10.0 to 10.6, to apply for funding under this NOFA to create transitional housing and services for homeless veterans, not to exceed 20 beds per project.

Funding priority 3. – VA is offering the opportunity to Indian Tribal Governments or nonprofit agencies that will provide transitional housing and services on Indian Tribal Property to apply for funding under this NOFA to create transitional housing and services for homeless veterans, not to exceed 20 beds per project.

Funding priority 4. - VA is encouraging interested state and local governments, faith- and community-based organizations, as well as eligible entities located in the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or possession of the United States, to apply for funding under this NOFA to create transitional housing and services, not to exceed 20 beds per project. Applicants should be aware of the needs of justice-involved homeless veterans (i.e. veterans who are not incarcerated but are involved in the criminal justice system).
For further information, please contact:

Chelsea Watson
VA's Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program
Department of Veterans Affairs
10770 North 46th Street, Suite C-200
Tampa, Florida 33617
(toll-free) 877-332-0334

Applications must be submitted no later than 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 30, 2012.

To view the full NOFA, click here for the text or click here for the PDF.

VA Announces Funding Availability for the Grant and Per Diem Program

Submitted by Paul Sutton for Salem-News.com

Veterans more likely to be homeless, study says
 
About 16% of homeless adults in a one-night survey in January 2009 were veterans, though vets make up only 10% of the adult population.

More than 75,000 veterans were living on the streets or in a temporary shelter that night. In that year, 136,334 veterans spent at least one night in a homeless shelter — a count that did not include homeless veterans living on the streets.

The urgency of the problem is growing as more people return from service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The study found 11,300 younger veterans, 18 to 30, were in shelters at some point during 2009. Virtually all served in Iraq or Afghanistan, said Mark Johnston, deputy assistant secretary for special needs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

"It's an absolute shame," he said.

President Obama has set a goal of ending chronic homelessness of veterans and others by 2015.

"This report offers a much clearer picture about what it means to be a veteran living on our streets or in our shelters," HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said. "Understanding the nature and scope of veteran homelessness is critical if we hope to meet President Obama's goal of ending this national tragedy within five years."

The typical vet in a shelter is...

Male: 93%

White, non-Hispanic: 49%

Age: 31-50 45%

Disabled: 52%

Source: HUD, VA

Homeless Veterans need your support
H.R. 1 set to eliminate funding for homeless veterans programs Take Action!
 
Contact your MEMBER NOW
 
H.R. 1, the full-year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011, is set to eliminate $75 million for approximately 10,000 new permanent supportive housing vouchers for homeless veterans.

These HUD-VA Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers represent a collaboration between the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) to help chronically ill veterans who are not able to obtain and maintain housing without assistance. A vote on this bill is expected by the end of the day.

The vouchers were approved by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees in the 111th Congress, and would bring the HUD-VASH program to the 40,000 voucher level.

The VASH program is one of the most critical elements of the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness among veterans by 2015.

VA had included funding for program expansion in its FY 2011 budget, and the Senate Appropriations Committee inserted funding for 10,000 new vouchers in its HUD funding bill. Both actions spurred hope that the number of homeless veterans – estimated at 107,000 – would continue to decline.

Vietnam Veterans of America urges you to contact your senators and representatives NOW and object to any move that would eliminate approved HUD-VASH program funding for new vouchers from this years continuing appropriation act for 2011 and all future budget proposed by the 112 Congress.

We must all do our part to protect these brave soldiers please contact your member NOW and object to any cuts in services for our homeless veterans.