By: Maura Collins

July 18, 2011

Vermont will be able to permanently house 15 more homeless Veteran households in affordable housing with supportive services available thanks to a recent award to the Vermont State Housing Authority. The funding is from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) program and is a coordinated effort by HUD and the Veteran’s Administration (VA) providing funding to local housing agencies.

Each winter in Vermont, agencies that serve and shelter people who are homeless attempt to count everyone they encounter on a given day to provide a rough estimate of the prevalence and characteristics of the homeless population. On January 28, 2011 there were 85 homeless veterans who were either unhoused, in shelters, or living temporarily in transitional homeless housing.

The VA’s announcement states, “The grants announced today are part of $50 million appropriated for Fiscal Year 2011 to support the housing needs of 6,900 homeless Veterans.  VA Medical Centers (VAMC) provide supportive services and case management to eligible homeless Veterans. This is the first of two rounds of the 2011 HUD-VASH funding.  HUD expects to announce the remaining funding by the end of this summer.”

It continues, “The HUD-VASH program includes both the rental assistance the voucher provides and the comprehensive case management that VAMC staff provides. Veterans participating in the HUD-VASH program rent privately owned housing and generally contribute no more than 30 percent of their income toward rent.”