Expand housing vouchers program for homeless veterans

VA secretary announces plans for more housing vouchers at Homeless Veterans Summit

Updated: Monday, January 4th, 2010 | By Robert Farley

On July 30, 2009, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., introduced the "Zero Tolerance for Veterans Homelessness Act of 2009." The bill would authorize a major increase in the number of vouchers available annually for homeless veterans through the VA Supported Housing Program. Specifically, the bill would increase the number of vouchers available to 30,000 in 2010, and then 10,000 more a year until 2014, when 60,000 vouchers would be available. The bill now sits in the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.

On Nov. 3, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki convened the first-ever Homeless Veteran Summit in Washington, during which he unveiled an ambitious plan to establish new programs and enhance existing ones with the goal of ending homelessness among veterans over the next five years.

The first plank of the plan is a "major expansion of HUD-VASH permanent housing and related case management services." The HUD-VASH Program is a partnership in which the Department of Housing and Urban Development offers vouchers for permanent housing to homeless veterans, while the VA Supported Housing program provides case management and other supportive services.

This promise is firmly In the Works.

Sources: Library of Congress, S. 1547: Zero Tolerance for Veterans Homelessness Act of 2009 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Press release: Homeless Veteran Summit: Ending Homelessness Among Veterans within Five Years U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Press release: The Department of Housing and Urban Development and VA's Supported Housing (HUD-VASH) Program