Statement of Linda Boone, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, before the Committee on Veterans Affairs United States Senate. Washington, DC.

Chairman Rockefeller and Committee members:

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) is committed to assisting the men and women who have served our Nation well to have decent shelter, adequate nutrition, and acute medical care when needed. NCHV is committed to doing all we can to help ensure that the organizations, agencies, and groups who assist veterans with these most fundamental human needs receive the resources adequate to provide these services to perform this task. Our veterans served us faithfully, often heroically. Each of us can do no less than to do our part to ensure that these men and women are treated with dignity and respect.

NCHV believes that there is no generic and separate group of people who are homeless veterans as a permanent characteristic. Rather, NCHV takes the position that there are veterans who have problems that have become so acute that a veteran becomes homeless for a time. In a great many cases these probems and difficulties are directly traceable to that individual's experience in military service or his or her return to civilian society.

The specific sequences of events that led to these American veterans being in the state of homelessness are as varied as there are veterans who find themselves in this condition.

It is clear that the present way of organizing the delivery of vitally needed services has failed to assist the veterans who are so overwhelmed by their problems and difficulties that they find themselves homeless for at least part of the year.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) is very supportive of the intent of S. 739, “Heather French Henry Homeless Veterans Assistance Act” introduced by Senator Wellstone, as the companion to the House bill H.R.936 introduced by Representative Lane Evans, to provide for a wide range of services to homeless veterans and to begin focus on issues of prevention.

The following are discussion points around contents of the bill that we have strong opinions about. We have indicated the three priority issues we have within the bill.

CHALLENGE DATA (Section 2)
First start with the data. Congress recognized the need for the VA to play a leadership role within communities they serve by passing legislation (PL102-405) requiring the VA to assess and coordinate the needs of homeless veterans living within the area served by the medical center or regional office. Since that legislation passed the VA has made progress towards implementing community meetings, Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education and Networking Groups (CHALENG) for Veterans, in approximately 90% of their locations. There are many local CHALENG processes that are meeting the full intent of the law passed by Congress and are providing valuable coordination of services to homeless veterans. However, not all medical centers have implemented this law or have minimally met the intent by surveying providers without a controlled assessment process.

NCHV is surprised that in the Fifth Annual Progress Report, published August 29, 1999 for the 1998 fiscal year, childcare came as the number two item of the unmet needs for homeless veterans. NCHV members are concerned that this conflicting data with their front line experience with homeless veterans distorts the entire validity of the CHALENG process and will misdirect the VA in their resource allocation for services to homeless veterans.

NCHV wants Congress to impress upon the VA the critical need for the VA to take a tangible leadership role to assess and coordinate services in communities for homeless veterans in a consistent and complete manner throughout the VA.

The Urban Institute produced a report for the Interagency Council On the Homeless, for the survey that was conducted in 1996 titled “Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve” released in December 1999 that has become the report that is used as the baseline in demographic data for homelessness in America. That report found 23% of all homeless individuals are veterans.

In February 2001 the Urban Institute released census information on the homeless population that was done in conjunction with the 1996 survey. Their conclusion is that at least 2.3 million people, or nearly 1% of US population are likely to experience homelessness at least once during a year. This would equate veterans experiencing homelessness to be 529,000 during a year.

Further they found that there is a high seasonal variation in homelessness, with 842,000 individuals (193,660 veterans) being homeless during an average February week and in October 444,000 (102,120 veterans) individuals.

This conflicts with the CHALENG data that we find suspect based on the inconsistent process of data gathering and reporting.

Advisory Committee (Section 4)
NCHV is very pleased that Secretary Principi has started to implement this piece without a Congressional mandate. We believe it is essential to have a formal mandated process in place that would provide an unfiltered and unrestricted channel of information to the VA Secretary concerning the issues affecting homeless veterans when future Secretaries are confirmed.

Evaluation (Section 6)
Currently Northeast Program Evaluation Center (NEPEC) is the only source of information reporting on homeless veterans used within the VA. It does not collect information from organizations outside the VA that serve homeless veterans. So currently there is no real data that can quantify the continuum of care services to homeless veterans nationwide or even by VISN.

(a) NCHV wants Congress intent language that states VA is to contract with outside group to do evaluation.

(b) Advisory Committee or community-based organizations (CBOs) need to specify what information is needed and information is to be made public.

Explicit information about programs such as CWT-TR, and domiciliary care needs to be spelled out in bill language so a comparison will be done between CBO and VA run programs in the study. NCHV’s belief is that VA provided housing is much more costly than that provided by CBOs. We also believe that the VA should be providing needed health care not managing transitional housing for homeless veterans.

VERA (Section 7)
The proposal in this bill would mandate that homeless veterans be designated as complex care patients and therefore the medical center would receive a higher allocation and an incentive to treat their complex needs.

Currently in many facilities homeless veterans are seen as cash flow losers. The VA model provides for increased revenue by the degree of difficulty for providing services to veterans. By designating homeless veterans as complex care patients it will assure the resources are available to treat these veterans with higher needs.

Part (4) of this section addresses the need for housing coupled with treatment. Here again NCHV would like the emphasis to be on housing provided by CBOs not the VA.

NCHV clearly wants VA contracts and collaborations with CBOs but we also want the VA in the health care business not in CBO business.

Per Diem piece of Homeless providers Grant and Per Diem Program (Section 8)
This section deals only with the rate of per diem. Section 14 deals with total authorization/appropriation for Homeless Providers Grant Per Diem Program.

This provision removes the match requirement from the per diem formula and makes the payment per bed a flat fee. It also makes the fee the same as the state home domiciliary formula.

NCHV supports this new formula based on the state home domiciliary rate because it is a good comparison model for types of services provided and compensation for those services. In addition removing the match requirement lightens the paperwork burden on the grantees and the VA. The current match requirement does not allow for in kind services to count towards the match, only hard dollars are allowed which can often create unnecessary hurdles for CBOs.

Special Needs Grants (Section 9)
CHV believes the $5million called for in these special grants should be used for CBOs not to provide incentives for the VA to treat homeless veterans with special needs, which is already part of their mandate. Here again the VA would be given authority to create housing programs and NCHV feels strongly that VHA should not be in the housing business.

The study called for in this section NCHV feels should be done by outside contractor and part of the funds should be used to provide for long-term follow up to effectively gather results data.

Coordination of Outreach (Section 10)
This section addresses prevention of homelessness among veterans that has long been ignored. It we are to reach the goal of ending homelessness among veterans some resources need to be focused on prevention efforts.

NCHV would like Congress to set this as a priority for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Programmatic Expansions (Section 13) Priority Issue
Approximately 5000 transitional housing beds will be available funded through the Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem program for veterans of which 2,076 are currently activated. The need for increased funding for beds through this program has never diminished since its inception. There is an un-addressed need for housing that is safe, clean, sober and has responsible staff to ensure that it stays that way, and that supportive services are regularly provided as to be sufficient to help veterans fully recover as much independence and autonomy as possible.

The Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program currently is assigned funding internally within the VA at approximately $35 million. The “grant” piece provides funding for the “bricks and mortar” for new programs and the “per diem” piece provides for a daily payment of up to 50% for a maximum of $19 per day to provide services to the veterans housed under the “grant” piece. The grantees are required to obtain matching funds to the complete the 50% not funded through the VA.

NCHV supports a new flat fee formula based on the state home domiciliary rate because it is a good comparison model for types of services provided and compensation for those services. In addition we recommend removing the match requirement that would lighten the paperwork burden on the grantees and the VA. The current match requirement does not allow for in kind services to count towards the match, only hard dollars are allowed which can often create unnecessary hurdles for CBOs. Additionally we recommend a permanent authorization to allow existing programs to have access to the “per diem” piece to allow for program expansion that does not require “bricks and mortar”.

NCHV believes the Homeless Providers Grant Per Diem should be at $120 million funding level and a budget line item. The current level of funded beds is 5000 for an investment of about $35 million. If funding stays at the $35 million level there would be a need to cut 1000 beds when the new per diem increase became effective.

The demand for this grant program far exceeds its current funding level. Every year programs get turned down usually because of lack of funding.

Grant applications rejected:

NCHV also feels there needs to be a future vision of how to turn these transitional beds into a mix of transitional and long term permanent supported housing. The current grant program has employment as an expected outcome for all veterans transitioning through the program. However many veteran are not able to work or live without continued supportive services on a daily basis. Some of these veterans need alternatives to independent living and the CBO system has the experience and programs in place that could support the future needs of these veterans.

NCHV is concerned that there is a tendency to provide the authority to the VA to create housing programs and other competitive services that CBOs are currently providing. We believe that the VA should provide the medical services and the CBOs can provide the other supportive services within the continuum of care for homeless veterans.

Comprehensive Homeless Services Program
NCHV is concerned that this section of the bill once again gives the authority to the VA to create housing programs and other competitive services that CBOs are currently providing. We believe that the VA should provide the medical services and the CBOs can provide the other supportive services within the continuum of care for homeless veterans.

Opioid
NCHV member organizations do not support this alternative addiction program. This is an extremely costly program to make available at all medical centers.

Various Authorities (Section 14)
(c) NCHV would like to see an alternative in the staffing requirement at VBA dedicated to addressing the needs of homeless veterans. Instead of strictly a VBA employee make it possible for VBA to contract with local CBOs who may have more experienced staff in dealing with the unique problems of homeless veterans.

Transitional Assistance Grants Pilot Program (Section 16)
This is an ill-advised proposition in NCHV member organizations’ opinion. Giving money to veterans in transition would constitute a give away that all were entitled to. Even with a payee representative we feel there would be significant abuses.

Additionally this program would be hard and costly to implement through VBA. In the FY2002 budget documents it already predicts that the timeline for processing claims will extend by an additional 100 days. Adding this program to VBA will not be to any veteran’s advantage.

An alternative would be to provide NCHV with annual funds that could be disbursed to CBOs so there was a screening process that was quick compared to DVA.

Technical Assistance (Section 17) Priority Issue
It is very clear that it takes a network of partnerships to be able to provide a full range of services to homeless veterans. No one entity can provide this complex set of requirements without developing relationships with others in the community.

Community-based nonprofit organizations are most often the coordinator of services because they house the veterans during their transition. These community-based organizations must orchestrate a complex set of funding and service delivery streams with multiple agencies in which each one plays a key critical role.

There are a wide variety of Federal, state and private funds that veteran service providers are eligible for in the course of serving homeless veterans. The challenge is in accessing them. Many veteran specific providers lose several years before being able to position themselves to successfully compete and receive ANY federal, state or local agency funds.

The current prevailing public policy of devolution increases likelihood that Federal dollars are ultimately allocated through a ranking process subject to local viewpoints. At the local level the common perception is that veterans are taken care of by the VA. Some are, yet most are not. These perceptions can be a barrier to homeless veterans service providers' access to funds. It is a reality that must be reckoned with in order to compete successfully.

When a local group is forced into priority recommendations that choose between needy men, women, and/or their children, it is a challenge to argue for displacing the funding for women and children in favor of a man (who’s a veteran the “VA is taking care of” anyway!). Sometimes a homeless veteran has his family still together, and obviously some homeless veterans are women, but these conditions are the exceptions.

Consistently at around $1 billion annually, the biggest piece of funding currently on the table is available from targeted HUD funds through the Super NOFA for Supportive Housing Programs (SHP). Historically only 3% of these grants are awarded to veteran specific programs. Three percent, when a quarter of the homeless are veterans. Any other help HUD grants give to veterans is purely by chance, and we have no information on whether the rest of the money reaches veterans.

The distribution system for these McKinney Act funds follow a devolution policy that organizes priorities for allocation of formula share dollars at a local level within a continuum of care. The Continuum of Care prescribes a planning process built on a community-by-community model. Within each community, a planning process takes place in which advocates and service providers describe the problem, access the current resources available, and decide what needs to be done using the “targeted” McKinney programs, which total $1.2 billion annually. Overall federal funding to assist the poor is about $215 billion annually and is not synchronized with targeted homeless assistance funds. So, these funds need to be accessed differently.

Until such time as a homeless veteran provider is able to convince the organizations that make up the local continuum of care that it is in THEIR best interest to juggle their dollars in a way to allow a veteran provider to the table, a veteran specific program typically gets ranked out of the money (if it even got ranked in the continuum at all). Veteran service providers report it takes several years of analysis, networking, program/funding design, and negotiations to be able to show that giving a high priority to a relatively small piece of HUD Supportive Housing Programs dollars for a veteran provider is in the community's best interest. A veteran provider can access support service money and a clinical care system (the Department of Veterans Affairs) available for veterans only. This leverages resources that can off-load the community care system of the veterans currently occupying beds and free up capacity that then becomes available for women, children and other special needs population. At one level, this is the market economy operating at its best…but it is complicated, to say the least.

The veteran community-based organization system faces a capacity gap around managing this complexity in order to respond successfully to the distribution system for accessing funds and then if awarded the resources to pay for management and financial reporting systems to properly service those funds.

The point here is to underscore the complexities involved in successfully responding to the streams of funding available and necessary to combine together adequate budgets in a sufficiently broad geographic area to put on a reasonable array of services for homeless veterans. Most community-based organizations throughout the country struggle to respond to this system of distribution of federal funds.

SOME SOLUTIONS
In 1990, seven homeless veteran service providers established the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) to educate America’s people about the extraordinarily high percentage of veterans among the homeless. These seven providers are considered to be true original warriors for the cause. All former military men, they were concerned that people did not understand the unique reasons why veterans become homeless and the fact that these men and women who defended America’s freedom were being dramatically under-served in a time of personal crisis. In the years since its founding, NCHV’s membership has grown to 245 in 44 states and the District of Columbia.

I urge this committee to consider finding ways to get capacity building services into the hands of the community-based care provider group attempting to serve veterans. It is squarely within the mission of NCHV to help formulate this capacity. While NCHV has been doing this, it’s been done in a limited way without the benefit of any federal funds. I ask you to consider authorizing an allocation $750,000 FY 2002 and each year thereafter through FY2007 to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans to build capacity of the veteran service provider network. The goal would be to significantly increase access to the federal, state and private funding streams and to enhance the efficiency of utilization for those currently accessing these streams.

Employment (Section 19) Priority Issue
Work is the key to helping homeless veterans rejoin American society. As important as quality clinical care, other supportive services, and transitional housing may be, the fact remains that helping veterans get and keep a job can be the most essential element in their recovery and reintegration for those that work is a realistic outcome.

The Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program (HVRP) managed through the US Department of Labor, Veterans Employment and Training Service is virtually the only program that focuses on employment of veterans who are homeless. Since other resources that should be available to our member organizations to fund activities that result in gainful employment are not generally available, HVRP takes on an importance far beyond the very small dollar amounts involved.

The Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program is a job placement program begun in 1989 to provide grants to community-based organizations that employ flexible and innovative approaches to assist homeless, unemployed veterans reenter the workforce. Local programs offer employment and job-readiness services to place these veterans directly into paying jobs. HVRP provides the key element often missing from most homeless programming………………..job placement.

Through HVRP funds veterans gain access to civilian assistance, ex-military benefits and entitlements, education and training opportunities, legal assistance, whatever is needed to begin the rebuilding process towards employment.

HVRP programs work with veterans who have special needs and are shunned by other programs and services, veterans who have hit the very bottom, including those with long histories of substance abuse, severe PTSD, serious social problems, those who have legal issues, and those who are HIV positive. These veterans require more time consuming, specialized, intensive assessment, referrals, and counseling than is possible in other programs that work with other veterans seeking employment.

This program has suffered since its inception because it is small and an easy target for elimination or reduced appropriations. Even DOL rarely asks for the full appropriation for HVRP in the budget they submit to OMB. Our coalition has spent the majority of its advocacy efforts in the past five years in keeping this program alive because it has been so vital in ending homelessness among veterans.

HVRP is an extraordinarily cost efficient program, with a cost per placement of about $1,500 per veteran entering employment. Based on years of experience of our member organizations NCHV strongly believes that helping homeless veterans to get and keep a job is the key to reducing homelessness among veterans. NCHV recommends an investment of $50 million per year in HVRP to assists veterans in becoming self-sustaining and responsible tax paying citizens.

$50 million is only $100 for each of the over 500,000 veterans that is estimated are homeless at some point during the year.

NCHV looks forward to working with this committee and the staff on solutions that will lead to the end of homelessness among veterans.

CHV’s Board believes that ending homelessness among veterans is not a mission impossible but a mission possible in the next few years and look forward to your continued support.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for this opportunity.

Linda Boone, Executive Director, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans took over the management of this national organization in April 1996. Although she is a native of Oregon, she came to DC after two years in Little Rock, Arkansas as executive director of a statewide association of nonprofits.

Linda’s efforts for veterans’ issues started in 1969 as a volunteer in her local community. In 1990 she became aware of the growing crisis of homeless veterans and began her advocacy for these veterans. In September 1993 Linda completed a year as National President of the one million member American Legion Auxiliary.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans was founded in 1990 by a group of veteran service providers when they became frustrated with the growing numbers of homeless veterans that were coming into their facilities and the lack of resources to adequately provide services.

The organization opened a Washington, DC office in 1993 to raise the homeless veteran issue at a national level to obtain resources to resolve issue. It is a nonprofit 501c3, membership organization. Funding is from donations, grants and membership fees.

The current mission of NCHV is to champion the quality of life for homeless veterans by shaping public policy, educating the public, and building the capacity of service providers to meet the needs of homeless veterans.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans received $36, 016 Federal funding in FY99 (Oct. 1, 1998- Sept. 30, 1999) to provide targeted marketing for the Work Opportunity Tax Credits.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans received $60,000 Federal funding in FY98 (Oct. 1, 1997- Sept. 30, 1998) to provide targeted marketing for the Work Opportunity Tax Credits.

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