In the Midst of Plenty by Marybeth Shinn & Jill Khadduri

Author:Marybeth Shinn & Jill Khadduri [Shinn, Marybeth & Khadduri, Jill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119104759
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2020-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

Reducing Homelessness for Veterans

The reduction in homelessness for military veterans, from 73,000 in 2009 to 38,000 in 2018 (Henry, Mahathey, et al., 2018), is a compelling example of what can be done when political will leads to additional resources. Resources provided by the Veteran's Administration include the SSVF program, which provides short‐term assistance using a rapid re‐housing model, and the VASH supportive housing program, implemented in cooperation with HUD and local housing authorities. HUD‐VASH uses a housing first model. An evaluation pointed to considerable technical help in the form of manuals, checklists, and instructional phone calls, and the VA's “hierarchical culture and unified mission” in creating success. “This VA study sheds some light on the political and organizational leverage available when credible leaders seek to transform social policy on a broad scale, particularly when that effort is paired with a substantial bed of resources” (Kertesz et al., 2017, p. 126). The VA also seeks to prevent homelessness, as we will describe in Chapter 5.

Nor is support for ending homelessness among veterans confined to the VA. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has created the Mayors' Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness, and HUD asks communities to give priority to veterans. The Interagency Council describes many elements that are needed in community strategies to end veteran homelessness. Some of these are the procedures we have described for all groups: identifying all veterans who experience homelessness; implementing coordinated entry, outreach and engagement; and reducing transitional housing in favor of permanent housing. The Interagency Council also describes reaching beyond the homeless system by engaging private landlords, increasing connections to employment, coordinating with legal services to prevent evictions, navigating outstanding warrants and expunging criminal records, and securing the public benefits to which veterans are entitled (US Interagency Council on Homelessness, 2017b). It is impossible to divvy up credit for the reductions among these various efforts—indeed it is the full court press by all the players that seems critical. As of May, 2019, 3 states and 71 communities including at least one community in 35 states had met the federal “criteria and benchmarks” for ending veteran homelessness (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2019; U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, 2017a, 2018a).29

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.