Today’s post is a collaboration between VHDA’s Erika Jones-Haskins and Virginia Williams of the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness.
As a member of both the Governor’s Homeless Outcomes Committee and the state’s Veteran’s Homeless Subcommittee, VHDA is proud to actively support the Commonwealth’s goal of ending veterans’ homelessness by 2015. As part of this support, we provided funding for a multi-community Veteran’s Housing Boot Camp, held at the end of September, which kicked off a 100-Day Challenge to house 370 homeless vets.
The Boot Camp was a collaborative effort by dozens of housing and veteran services stakeholders. This intensive work session was designed to map housing resources in each community, as well as identify and resolve the challenges in connecting veterans to housing. It also helped communities identify opportunities to create additional housing for veterans in their communities.
As we celebrate Veterans Day, we are almost at the halfway point of the 100-Day Challenge. We’re thrilled to share the great news that when it comes to ending veteran homelessness, communities across Virginia are achieving amazing results!
Teams have assessed the housing needs of over 200 veterans and already returned 10 veterans to housing of their own. Communities are pushing through challenges, like eliminating the duplication of paperwork across agencies and creating one master list of a region’s most vulnerable homeless veterans. These collaborative approaches are allowing Continuums of Care to ensure resources are allocated effectively to meet the goal of ending veteran homelessness by December 2015.
By using “Boot Camp” tactics to create a robust and collaborative system, communities across the Commonwealth are ensuring that Virginia’s veterans have stable housing, and are successful in remaining in their homes, by 2015 — and beyond.
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