HUD Partners to Assist Nashville Area Homeless Veterans

Homeless Veterans, service providers, and volunteers alike stood at the presentation of colors

November was a busy month as the Nashville HUD staff participated in the 18th Annual Operation Stand Down (http://www.osdnashville.org/) event with over 700 volunteers from over 130 organizations to provide support services to 257 male Veterans plus 10 women Veterans. The term Stand Down originates from the military itself. In times of war, exhausted soldiers were allotted reprieve from battle at secure base camp areas where they would take care of personal hygiene, get clean clothes, receive needed medical care, and enjoy the fellowship of friends.

Today, Stand Down refers to a community effort with the task of helping the nation's estimated 107,000 homeless veterans replenish their spirit and health through the provision of medical care, meals, clothes, and community resources that can help them rebuild their lives.

Ben Bentley (center) and Harold Witt (right) of Nashville PIH staff provided information on a variety of HUD resources and answered Veterans' questions

The numbers of Veterans served are lower this year. Over the last two years, the US Dept of Veterans Affairs (http://www.va.gov/) and HUD have placed increased emphasis on Homeless Veterans by putting a tremendous amount of resources including new programs and additional personnel in support of the President's goal of ending homelessness among Veterans within 5 years. Operation Stand Down Nashville, Inc has added several programs during the last year to help Veterans.

Numerous HUD partners were also represented at the Operation Stand Down event including representatives from the local housing authority, VA Medical Center, Homeless Coalition, and HUD approved counseling services. The Veterans that participated were provided a variety of services such as free haircuts, legal services, dental, vision, medical and the opportunity to meet with local government and nonprofit organizations.

HUD staff provided information on the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program, as well as HUD subsidized multifamily programs, housing counseling agencies and public housing/Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) programs.

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