VA has Plan to end Veteran Homelessness

The Department of Veterans Affairs is slated today to unveil a five-year plan for ending homelessness among veterans.

The plan is to be released today during a Homeless Veteran Summit that will include VA officials and community outreach specialists, according to a statement released yesterday. The summit, at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park, Woodley Road, NW, will continue through Nov. 5, according to the VA's Web site.

The VA under Shinseki said it has made veteran homelessness a top priority. VA officials say about 131,000 vets are now homeless, a figure already down from a 2003 estimate of 200,000.

To end homelessness among veterans, Shinseki has said, the VA and the country must do better in terms of psychological health care, education and employment opportunities, and addressing substance abuse.

“To do this well, we’ll have to attack the entire downward spiral that ends in homelessness,” Shinseki told the American Legion convention in Louisville, Ky., in August.

Shinseki’s latest initiative, launched last month, has a more direct impact on homelessness, according to a press statement issued by the VA. On Oct. 6, the secretary announced more than $17 million in grants will be shared among 19 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to create more than 1,100 beds for homeless veterans.

The transitional housing is intended to give veterans the leverage they need to access VA health care and other benefits they need to lead productive lives again, Shinseki said when announcing the initiative.

The Homeless Summit scheduled for today will focus on similar indirect and immediate measures to meet the VA’s five-year goal to get veterans off the streets. Officials said the summit’s agenda will promote interagency and community partnerships to end homelessness through a variety of working groups and other sessions.

The summit also will raise awareness and help advocates articulate key components of the five-year plan, and will give outreach organizations more tools for prevention in their local communities, officials added.