[1]The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD [2]) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA [3]) announced Monday [4] that they will partner to provide resources to help nearly 2,000 homeless veterans find and sustain permanent housing.
The two agencies will be providing help for homeless veterans through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH [5]) program, combining HUD's rental assistance with the VA's case management and clinical services. In October 2013, the agencies awarded a combined $62 million in the form of HUD-VASH vouchers to 9,000 homeless veterans.
On Monday, the agencies announced they will award an additional $13.5 million in HUD-VASH vouchers to assist 1,984 veterans with obtaining housing. The partnership between the two government agencies is part of HUD's focus of advancing policies that create opportunities for all Americans and is a step toward HUD's broader goal of ending veteran homelessness. In November, HUD announced a partnership [6] with Washington, D.C.-based non-profit National League of Cities (NLC [7]) with that goal in mind.
"It is unacceptable that after their service and sacrifice, too many of our veterans find themselves living on our streets and in our shelters," HUD Secretary Julián Castro said. "We’ve made significant progress reducing homelessness among veterans by a third in just four years, and these vouchers will continue to help communities build on these gains, providing targeted assistance to those in need to ensure that every veteran has a home."
More than 68,000 HUD-VASH vouchers have been awarded to more than 80,000 homeless veterans since 2008. Also, Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness [8] demonstrates the government's commitment to working with state and local communities to confront the root causes of homelessness, particularly among veterans. President Obama has asked for an additional $75 million in funding for HUD-VASH vouchers as part of his budget request to congress for fiscal year 2015.
In the HUD-VASH program, VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) determine the need for housing for a particular veteran after assessing a number of factors, particularly the duration of homelessness and how much support the veteran will need in order to obtain and maintain housing for the long term. VAMCs will then refer the veteran to a local housing agency for the voucher.