A first for local authority: housing homeless through VA program
In what Washington County Housing Authority Executive Director Stephen Hall is calling a first for his agency, the Veterans Affairs department plans to award six housing vouchers to homeless veterans.
Veterans Affairs has teamed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development since 2008 for the program but the latest round of $500,000 in funding for Pennsylvania aims to help 85 homeless vets in 13 housing authorities across the state.
The allocation for the Washington County Housing Authority, to be directed through the VA’s Pittsburgh Health Care System, is $26,914.
“This is the first year Washington County has been invited to be involved in the program,” Hall said Monday.
“What we do is we express an interest, and based on our expression of interest, the VA hospitals decide where they need to have those vouchers go.”
In the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program, people at VA medical centers take into consideration the duration of a veteran’s homelessness and his or her need for longer-term and more intensive support. The veterans are then referred to local housing authorities for vouchers.
Veterans participating in the program rent privately owned housing, known as Section 8, and generally contribute no more than 30 percent of their income toward rent.
For the past 23 years as part of a separate program, Washington County government has been the recipient of HUD’s Continuum of Care grant of taxpayer dollars.
Funded in federal fiscal year 2017 and now in the process of contracting with HUD, Washington County will be receiving $1,657,331 through the Continuum of Care program which will go to Connect Inc., Washington City Mission and ARC Human Services.
From this allocation, seven units are set aside for veterans, but that should not be interpreted as a limit.
“In the meantime, all of those projects will serve any veteran,” said Jennifer Johnson, Washington County’s coordinator of services for the homeless.
“Homeless veterans can access any program if they choose to,” Johnson continued. “It’s awesome that Washington County has received those vouchers.”
Joe DeFelice, administrator of HUD’s mid-Atlantic region, announced in December that homelessness among Pennsylvania veterans is down 15.2 percent.