Preventing and Ending Veteran Homelessness Special Needs Housing: Combating Homelessness 2016 NCSHA Annual Conference Presented by Elizabeth Seward
Virginia’s Statewide Goal Virginia established a statewide goal to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015 The state is home to several military bases and anticipates a future increase of the veterans population. Veteran Boot Camps have been an effective tool in communities across the country as they work to end veteran homelessness. The Boot Camp approach replicates the national success of the 100,000 Homes campaign. Talking Points: The state goal to end veterans homelessness was part of the National Mayor’s Challenge to End Homelessness. The state is home to several military bases and three military hospitals. VHDA changed its golf tournament grant to provide operating funds to non-profits. This was new in 2015. Veterans bootcamps have been used in Salt Lake, Phoenix, and New Orleans 100,000 homes was designed to house the most vulnerable individuals first and provide permanent housing.,
VHDA’s Programmatic Strategy Providing underwriting support for statewide strategic planning events designed to catalyze local housing placements Supporting continuums of care across the Commonwealth to hire staff to support local coordination efforts to improve veteran’s housing placements, and Focusing the Authority’s charitable efforts to support emergency housing for homeless veterans through the annual VHDA Golf Tournament. Talking points: Mention the Governor’s Coordinating discuss the purpose ( and VHDA’s role on the council) Make the connection between VHDA Plan 2016 Strategic Plan Community Outreach Division Goal which mentions “Provide financial and technical support to facilitate affordable housing planning and development while assisting citizens, stakeholder groups and communities in optimizing housing solutions and State/ and Federal priorities of ending homelessness (i.e., Opening Doors) The strategy focused on enhancing state and local partnership through: technical assistance, developing the local workforce to better address the needs of homeless veterans, and providing significant operational support to emergency housing providers. This slide is a bridge from the larger intended goals to the strategies used to accomplish those goals Golf tournament relates to direct operational support Underwriting relates to previous slide goal of technical assistance Support CoC’S relates to previous slide focus are of workforce development
Boot camp underwriting costs $36,000. VHDA Investment: Boot camp underwriting costs $36,000. Impact: Three communities developed process maps for housing homeless veterans and all four established a by name list to prioritize veterans for housing. 400 veterans were housed during the 100 Day Challenge Strategy One: Underwriting support for statewide strategic planning events Statewide Veterans Boot Camp VHDA underwrote the costs of Virginia’s statewide boot camp which included a two-day facilitated community planning processes and a multi-month technical assistance engagement with 80 over community stakeholders in four communities. Talking points: The effort was a multi-agency collaborative led by Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness (VCEH) now the Virginia Housing Alliance and the Virginia Department of Veterans Services former Wounded Warrior Program (VWWP) and policy, planning, and design support from the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, VHDA and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). VHDA was the primary event sponsor, and the Authority’s underwriting supported covered the cost of expert facilitation, meeting space, event meals, and staff logistical support. Statewide = Roanoke, Richmond, Hampton Roads The facilitation used during the boot camp was the same process used during the 100k Homes Initiatives in communities across the country. The By Name List is a community census of the homeless veterans in the community ranked in order of acuity and likelihood of negative impacts of housing instability. It’s a tool to prioritize who to house first. Note that communities brought together partners who had not previously collaborated and used the best practice of prioritizing who to house first and developing a by name list.
Coordinating Resources Talking Points: As part of VHDA’s support of the veteran’s boot camp, VHDA worked with SocialServe to add a special module to the Authority’s housing search tool, Virgniahousingsearch.com to encourage landlords to register their properties on the site so that individuals could find housing. The goal was to also increase the number of units in the system and increase awareness about the resource.
AmeriCorps VISTA Grant Pool VHDA Investment: $120,000 for grants to up to four communities at $30,000 per community with a total of 8 grants made since 2014. Impact: Each community developed a work plan goal to address the needs of homeless veterans Participating communities received technical assistance on implementation and monitoring of the work plan Strategy Two: Improving the workforce in continuums of care to better address veterans homelessness AmeriCorps VISTA Grant Pool In 2014, VHDA established a grant pool to fund the placement of an annual cohort of AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers in communities across Virginia. In 2014, VHDA partnered with the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness (VCEH) to assist local communities with increasing their capacity The program is coordinated by the Virginia Housing Alliance which provides training and technical assistance to placement communities and the VISTA members to increase their capacity assist veterans, Mention TA provided by VISTA Talk about VCEH Role Support to 8 communities for AmeriCorps VISTA members to enhance the continuum of care’s response to veterans homelessness. Grant Activity since 2014 FY14- Rappahannock Rapidan Planning Group FY15- Harrisonburg/Winchester CoC; Portsmouth CoC; Fredericksburg; Spotsylvania, Stafford CoC FY16- Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Stafford CoC; Northern Neck Planning Group; Charlottesville CoC; New River Valley Planning Group; Virginia Beach CoC
Strategy Three: Charitable efforts to support emergency housing for veterans The Don Ritenour Charity Golf Classic VHDA enhanced its application and selection process to prioritize emergency shelters and/or rapid re-housing providers for veterans. VHDA Investment: Approximately $80,000 in golf tournament proceeds Impact: Four veterans serving homeless shelters and/or rapid rehousing providers received one $20,000 grant per organization to support operating costs VHDA sponsors an annual golf tournament and the tournament proceeds are awarded to
Governor Terry McAuliffe November 11, 2015 From September 2014 to August 2016 1,818 veterans housed. The energy and system changed fostered by the boot camp helped the state to achieve these outcomes. “This is an important victory in our ongoing efforts to make our Commonwealth the best place on earth for veterans to live, work and raise a family. However, we must remain committed to keeping homelessness among veterans, and, all Virginians, rare, brief and nonrecurring.” Talk about the importance of the governor’s leadership and commitment to the cause. Virginia was the first state to apply the local boot camp model to the state level. Thus showing the impact of a focused data driven model of housing extremely vulnerable veterans. Governor Terry McAuliffe November 11, 2015