Legion to Congress: Fully fund homeless veteran programs

At a July 29 hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, The American Legion and other stakeholders delivered testimony related to efforts to end veteran homelessness.

The Legion’s testimony, presented by Legislative Division Assistant Director Jeff Steele, touched on VA’s five-year plan to end veteran homelessness, provided solutions to maintain funding and highlighted community partnerships. Collectively, these are the things the Legion believes are integral to combating veteran homelessness.

At The American Legion’s 2009 National Convention in Louisville, Ky., then VA Secretary Eric Shinseki laid out a five-year plan to eliminate veteran homelessness by providing safe housing, treatment services, employment opportunities and benefits assistance. The American Legion stands behind the bold plan to reduce veteran homelessness to a “functional zero,” with hopes that the goal can still be achieved.

“The American Legion believes we can reach functional zero by continuing the path VA has embarked upon with their five-year plan, ensuring funding levels are not diminished as progress is being made, and by increasing the work done to build partnerships by all stakeholders in the community,” Steele said.

The Legion believes VA’s prevention initiative, the Supportive Services for Veterans and Families (SSVF) program, is an integral part of the plan that must remain intact. Designed to help veterans and their families rapidly exit homelessness, or avoid entering homelessness, SSVF is the only national, veteran-specific program designed to help at-risk veterans avoid becoming homeless. The program provides grants to community-based nonprofit organizations and is helping connect very low-income veterans and their families with services in the community.

“This is a critical program because it focuses on ‘at risk’ veterans, a cohort 10 times the size of the actual homeless veteran population,” Steele said. "This is critical because it has the ability to serve veterans before they are forced to the streets. The work of SSVF as a component of VA’s five-year plan has been highly successful, ensuring the number of homeless veterans has continued to drop as homeless and at-risk veterans have been directed to housing solutions.”

Tremendous progress has been made in reducing the numbers of homeless veterans, but the Legion believes that progress could be lost if funding is reduced as the focus fades away from the mission at hand.

Another helpful tool has been the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers. Through fiscal 2015, HUD has awarded more than 78,000 HUD-VASH vouchers. Nationwide, more than 300 public housing authorities have participated in the program. Steele urged members of Congress to continue funding for the vouchers as stakeholders continue to push to get veterans off the street.

The Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program within the Department of Labor’s Veterans Employment and Training Services (DOL-VETS) addresses one of the challenges homeless veterans face: finding and maintaining gainful employment. Although unemployment has fallen somewhat among veterans in recent years, it remains a concern. The Legion believes that keeping veterans in meaningful employment is a critical step toward keeping veterans off the streets.

While testifying in front of the committee, Steele said that fully funded programs are a critical necessity. The American Legion urges Congress to maintain the funding levels for these critical programs:

• The Grant and Per Diem program at $250 million and SSVF at no less than $500 million through the maturity of the five-year plan (fiscal 2015).

• The $75 million in new HUD-VASH vouchers while allocating more project-based vouchers to high concentration cities of chronically homeless veterans.

• The HVRP within DOL-VETS at the authorized level of $50 million. Current funding is $38 million.

Before closing out his testimony, Steele highlighted the Legion’s collaborative efforts with other stakeholders to help tackle the challenge of eliminating veteran homelessness. The American Legion has taken a leadership role within local communities by volunteering, fundraising and advocating for programs and funding for homeless veterans. Additionally, the Legion provides housing for homeless veterans and their families in areas such as Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

“One of the goals of The American Legion is to help bring federal agencies, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, and other stakeholders to the table to discuss best practices – along with funding opportunities – so homeless veterans and their families can obtain the necessary care and help in order for them to properly transition from the streets and/or shelters into gainful employment and/or independent living,” Steele said.

During his closing remarks, Steele thanked the committee for its commitment to resolving the issue and reminded them that the challenge can be overcome through partnership and persistence.