Ending Veterans' Homelessness in New Jersey (Part two) VA Summit

VA Summit

VA Summit

On Thursday, February 3, 2011 Public Housing Director Ed DePaula, Public Housing Revitalization Specialist Patrick Morris, Operations Specialist Carleton Lewis participated in the VISN 3 VA Summit. The summit's participants were broken up into three focus groups to disgust; Outreach, Education, and Prevention; Income, Employment, and Benefits; and Housing and Supportive Services. The objective was to develop workable plans and timelines to affect measurable change in each area identified. The three HUD reps focused their attention on the housing and outreach work groups.

In the housing group HUD helped to address a need for advanced participants in the HUD-VASH program by proposing to work with program graduates to fulfill their homeownership aspirations through the Homeownership Voucher program.

In the outreach group HUD helped to address an outreach need by proposing to host a meeting of the VA, homeless veterans serving agencies and the 21 New Jersey Continuums of Care (CoCs). This event will help address 2 key issues in the HUD?VA homeless plans:

• Bringing the CoCs together to affect the development of Ten Year Plans to End Homelessness in the remaining New Jersey Counties
  
  
• Addressing the issues facing homeless veterans and VA participation in the shared goal of ending homelessness in the state. The meeting is targeted to take place by March 31, 2011.

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