Preventing and Ending
Veteran Homelessness
Special Needs Housing: Combating Homelessness
2016 NCSHA Annual Conference
Presented by
Elizabeth Seward
Virginia Housing Development Authority
Virginia’s Statewide Goal
•
Virginia established a statewide goal to end veteran
homelessness by the end of 2015
•
The state is home to several military bases and anticipates a
future increase of the veterans population.
•
Veteran Boot Camps have been an effective tool in communities
across the country as they work to end veteran homelessness.
•
The Boot Camp approach replicates the national success of the
100,000 Homes campaign.
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VHDA’s Programmatic Strategy
1) Providing underwriting support for
statewide strategic planning events
designed to catalyze local housing
placements
2) Supporting continuums of care
across the Commonwealth to hire
staff to support local coordination
efforts to improve veteran’s housing
placements, and
3) Focusing the Authority’s charitable
efforts to support emergency
housing for homeless veterans
through the annual VHDA Golf
Tournament.
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Strategy One:
Underwriting support for statewide
strategic planning events
VHDA Investment:
Boot camp underwriting costs
$36,000.
Statewide Veterans Boot Camp
Impact:
• Three communities
developed process maps for
housing homeless veterans
and all four established a by
name list to prioritize
veterans for housing.
VHDA underwrote the costs of Virginia’s
statewide boot camp which included a
two-day facilitated community planning
processes and a multi-month technical
assistance engagement with 80 over
community stakeholders in four
communities.
• 400 veterans were housed
during the 100 Day Challenge
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Coordinating Resources
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Strategy Two:
Improving the workforce in continuums
of care to better address veterans
homelessness
AmeriCorps VISTA Grant Pool
In 2014, VHDA established a grant pool to
fund the placement of an annual cohort of
AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers in
communities across Virginia.
VHDA Investment:
$120,000 for grants to up to four
communities at $30,000 per
community with a total of 8
grants made since 2014.
Impact:
• Each community developed a
work plan goal to address
the needs of homeless
veterans
• Participating communities
received technical assistance
on implementation and
monitoring of the work plan
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Strategy Three:
Charitable efforts to support
emergency housing for veterans
The Don Ritenour Charity Golf Classic
VHDA enhanced its application and selection
process to prioritize emergency shelters
and/or rapid re-housing providers for
veterans.
VHDA Investment: Approximately $80,000 in
golf tournament proceeds
Impact: Four veterans serving homeless
shelters and/or rapid rehousing providers
received one $20,000 grant per organization
to support operating costs
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From September
2014 to August 2016
1,818 veterans
housed. The energy
and system changed
fostered by the boot
camp helped the
state to achieve these
outcomes.
“This is an important victory in our ongoing efforts to make our Commonwealth
the best place on earth for veterans to live, work and raise a family. However,
we must remain committed to keeping homelessness among veterans, and, all
Virginians, rare, brief and nonrecurring.”
Governor Terry McAuliffe
November 11, 2015
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