The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) believes that the public, profit-seeking, and nonprofit sectors each have roles to play in organizing and delivering health and human services to people in high-risk situations, including veterans experiencing homelessness.

We recognize that organizations founded by religious institutions and/or guided by faith principles are mission-bound and motivated to provide charitable works and advocate for social justice.  We recognize that many faith-based organizations have long histories of health and human service delivery.  Some homeless veteran service providers base their work in faith principles.   NCHV is pleased to count such organizations among its membership.

We support provisions in current law that prohibit the use of public funds for inherently religious practices such as religious instruction, worship, or proselytizing. 

We also support provisions in current law that permit faith-based organizations to maintain their faith identities in the course of delivering publicly-funded programs and services.   Further, we support provisions in current law that prohibit organizations, including faith-based organizations, from denying publicly-funded resources or services to an individual based on that person’s religion, or that condition an individual’s access to a publicly funded program or service on the basis of religious affiliation or practice.

We support efforts that ensure that both faith-based organizations and community-based organizations are invited to and are made eligible to seek public funds to support their delivery of health and human services.  We believe that outreach and resource and program development technical assistance should be provided to community-based organizations and faith-based organizations in equal intensity and manner.

We believe that public funds should be awarded to community-based and faith-based organizations on the basis of merit, as determined by a thorough and unbiased review of the qualifications, skills, and experiences of applicant organizations.  The faith-based nature of an applicant should not be a factor in the determination.

We oppose the segregation of or designation of available public funds for only faith-based organizations or only community-based organizations.  We also oppose the establishment of criteria that would grant a preference or priority to faith-based organizations over community-based organizations in the distribution of public funds.  Further we oppose the establishment of criteria that would require an organization to collaborate with another solely due to that organization’s faith-based or community-based nature.

We believe that all organizations receiving public funds for health and human services delivery should be held to the same standards of care, professional and facility licensure requirements, outcome expectations, and fiscal accountability requirements, regardless of their sector or faith nature.

Ultimately, we believe that equal treatment between experienced and nascent organizations and faith-based and community-based organizations in their acquisition of public funds is best accomplished by increasing resource levels to expand health and human services delivery generally and enlarging the service provider mix overall, rather than by shifting resources among organizations.

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