Supporting Our Homeless Veterans

Over 100 participants from federal, state and local agencies including the US military participated in the HUD VASH training held in Atlanta August 17-18, 2010

The painful memories of war, the loss of fellow comrades and the recurring nightmares and anguish associated with feeling helpless and often homeless plague too many of our military veterans and are being addressed as never before as federal, state and local agencies partner to find innovative and impactful ways to end homelessness for these veterans.

Recently, HUD Region IV Office of Public and Indian Housing, Veterans Administration, City of Atlanta and state housing authorities, and local Wounded Warrior Care Project team members met to better understand how each could combine forces to more effectively utilize HUD VASH or the Veterans Affairs Housing Program to help homeless veterans. This is the third year HUD is supporting the housing and service needs of homeless veterans across America through HUD-VASH with a total investment of $225 million that will sustain approximately 30,000 rental assistance vouchers.

"The collaboration among HUD, VA and local public housing authorities, states and Interagency Council on Homelessness is vital to the success of the VASH program," stated Ada Holloway, Director of the Atlanta HUD Office of Public Housing. "During the VASH training we provided guidance and resources for our federal partners, city government, nonprofit organizations, veteran advocates and active duty military, then we challenged them to also take responsibility to assist in ending homelessness among veterans," added the training organizer, Marilyn Milne, Senior Public Housing Revitalization Specialist at HUD.

Local public housing agencies administer HUD's Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV) and work closely with VA Medical Centers to manage the program. In addition to the rental assistance, VAMCs provide supportive services and case management to eligible homeless veterans. HUD allocates these housing vouchers to local public housing agencies, which will target them to homeless veterans based on a variety of factors, including the number of reported homeless veterans and the proximity of a local VA Medical Centers with the capacity to provide case management. These medical centers identify eligible participants and also provide case management. VA case managers will also work directly with local housing agencies that are administering the HUD-VASH program to determine income eligibility and help participants find suitable housing.

Veterans participating in the HUD-VASH program rent privately owned housing and generally contribute no more than 30 percent of their income toward rent. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers eligible homeless veterans clinical and supportive services through its medical centers across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

To learn more about the HUD VASH program and how it is combating veteran homelessness please visit HUD's website and www1.va.gov/homeless/.

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