Alabama Summit: Ending Veterans Homelessness

AL Veterans Summit May 2015

Alabama State University and its National Public Radio Station WVAS 90.7 FM hosted a Veterans Homeless Summit on its campus in Montgomery at the end of May. HUD Southeast Regional Administrator, Ed Jennings, Jr., and Birmingham Field Office Director, Michael German, joined with representatives of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and more than 90 participants from public housing authorities and continuum of care providers, for a day-long event seeking strategies to end veterans' homelessness in Alabama and refining the operation of the HUD-VASH program.

HUD-VASH is a cooperative effort between HUD and the VA to house chronically homeless Veterans. Under the program eligible veterans are provided a HUD Housing Choice Voucher to house them, and provided case management and social service assistance through the VA Medical Center system. Helping veterans not only find a home but staying in housing was a central focus, as well as finding ways to improve performance of the HUD-VASH program. "The most important thing that can be done for a veteran who has served his country is to give them a place to call home," said HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr. Participants who came from the cities of Auburn, Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile Montgomery, Opelika, Tuscaloosa and Montgomery agreed and went back to their communities feeling great progress had been made towards that goal.

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