George Basher, NCHV Chairman of the Board, testified at the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee Hearing on Affordable Housing Needs of America's Low Income Veterans.

Introduction 

Homelessness has become an enduring fixture of contemporary U.S. society.  Systemic public 
policy responses to address this issue have been developed with representatives from federal, state and local government along with advocates, providers and consumers who continue to  pursue public policy solutions to prevent and end homelessness.  The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) shares this commitment by producing policy remedies specifically targeted towards the subpopulation   of people experiencing homelessness and who are also bound together by their shared experience of service in the United States   Armed Forces.

Homelessness Among Veterans

In testimony presented to Congress in 2006, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) representative reported the number of homeless veterans on the streets of America on any given night decreased by nearly 25 percent during the last five years, from about 250,000 to 190,000. VA credits its emerging partnership with community-based organizations for this improvement.  

The VA reports homeless veterans are mostly males (3 percent are females) and the vast majority are single, although service providers are reporting an increased number of veterans with children seeking their assistance. About half of all homeless veterans have a mental illness and more than two thirds suffer from alcohol or other substance abuse problems. Nearly 40 percent have both psychiatric and substance abuse disorders. The VA reports the majority of women in homeless veteran programs have serious trauma histories, some life-threatening, and many of these women have been raped and reported physical harassment while in the military.

According to the VA, male veterans are 1.3 times more likely to become homeless as their non-veteran counterparts, and female veterans are 3.6 times more likely to become homeless as their non-veteran counterparts.  Like their non-veteran counterparts, veterans are at high risk of homelessness due to extremely low or no livable income, extreme shortage of affordable housing, and lack of access to health care. But these factors combined with their military service put them at even greater risk of homelessness.

Prior to becoming homeless, a large number of veterans at risk of homelessness have struggled with post traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, or have addictions acquired during or worsened by their military service.  These conditions can interrupt their ability to keep a job, establish savings, and in some cases, maintain family harmony. Veterans’ family, social, and professional networks may have been broken due to extensive mobility while in service or lengthy periods away from their hometowns and their civilian jobs. These problems are directly traceable to their experience in military service or to their return to civilian society without having had appropriate transitional supports.

While most Americans believe our nation’s veterans are well-supported, in fact many go without the services they require and are eligible to receive.  According to a Congressional staff analysis of 2000 U.S. Census data, one and a half million veterans have incomes that fall below the federal poverty level, including 634,000 with incomes below 50 percent of poverty. Neither the VA nor its state and county departments are adequately funded to respond to these veterans’ health, housing, and supportive services needs. Moreover, community-based and faith-based service providers also lack sufficient resources.

The VA reports its homeless veteran programs serve 100,000 veterans annually. NCHV member community-based organizations (CBOs) serve 150,000 annually. With an estimated 400,000 veterans experiencing homelessness at some time during the year, and the VA reaching only 25 percent and CBOs reaching 35 percent of those in need, there is a substantial number of veterans who do not receive the help they need to transition out of homelessness and re-enter society as productive citizens. Likewise, other federal, state and local public agencies — notably housing agencies and health departments — are not adequately responding to the housing, health care and supportive services needs of veterans.  Indeed, it appears veterans fail to register as a target group for these agencies in many communities.

Despite the decrease in the number of homeless veterans over the past five years, many veterans still need help. Findings from a survey conducted by NCHV in November 2005 suggest the homeless veteran population in America may be experiencing significant changes. Homeless veterans receiving services today appear to be aging and the percentage of women veterans seeking services is growing.  Moreover, combat veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and the Global War on Terror are returning home and suffering from war related conditions that may put them at risk for homelessness, according to studies published by the New England Journal of Medicine and the VA. 

These men and women are beginning to trickle into the nation's community-based homeless veteran service provider organizations and need help – from mental health programs to housing, employment training and job placement assistance. With greater numbers of women in combat operations, along with increased identification of and a greater emphasis on care for victims of sexual assault and trauma, new and more comprehensive services are needed. The NCHV report included a “first glimpse” demographic profile of these veterans and commentary on the impact they are likely to have on the nation’s service delivery system. Poverty, lack of support from family and friends, and unstable living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing may also be contributing factors. In the next 10 years, significant increases in services over current levels will be needed to serve aging Vietnam veterans, women veterans and combat veterans of America’s current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

NCHV Policy Plan

Preventing and ending homelessness among veterans requires public commitment and action to ensure access to affordable housing, income and health security.  This must be accomplished both through general responses that will benefit all homeless persons and those at high-risk for homelessness – including veterans – and through specialized responses specifically targeted to homeless veterans.

This policy document contains policy initiatives aimed at accomplishing NCHV’s vision to end homelessness among veterans.  They are listed under four primary action areas – provide access to health care, ensure income security, supply affordable housing, and prevent homelessness —and indicate where change is needed.

These measures are directed toward the U.S. government, and actions taken at this level will benefit all Americans. States, localities and homeless coalitions may also use them as guides in enacting corollary policies and programs. This set of policies serves as the primary resource used by NCHV to advise Congress, the Administration and interested organizations about homeless veteran issues and is a guide to actions needed to end homelessness among America’s veterans.

1. Provide Access to Health Care

Guiding Assumption:  All veterans deserve to have access to comprehensive, high quality and affordable health care.

Initiatives

Increase appropriations for the VA health care account in order to: strengthen the capacity of the VA Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) program to serve more homeless veterans; enable VA to increase its mental health and addiction services capacity; and enable VA to increase vision and dental care services to homeless veterans as required by law.

Ensure homeless veterans’ access to and utilization of mainstream health insurance and health services programs.

Authorize and appropriate funds for competitive grants to community-based, faith-based and public organizations to provide health and supportive services to homeless people placed in permanent housing. 

2. Ensure Income Security

Guiding Assumption:  All veterans deserve to receive an income at a level sufficient for obtaining and maintaining permanent housing, food, health care and other basic human needs. 

Initiatives

Increase the authorization level of and appropriations for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP). Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor-Veterans Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS), HVRP is the only federal program wholly dedicated to providing employment assistance to homeless veterans and provides competitive grants to community-based, faith-based and public organizations to offer outreach, job placement and supportive services to homeless veterans.

Increase appropriations for Veterans Workforce Investment Program (VWIP). Funded by the U.S. DOL VWIP provides competitive grants to states geared toward training and employment opportunities for veterans with service-connected disabilities, those with significant barriers to employment (such as homelessness), and recently separated veterans.

Establish a Veterans Work Opportunity Tax Credit (V-WOTC) Program.  The program would incentivize the hiring of homeless veterans by providing employers a tax credit equal to a percentage of the wage paid to the homeless or other low-income veteran.

Assure veterans’ access to and utilization of mainstream workforce development, disability and temporary cash assistance programs.

3. Develop Affordable Housing

Guiding Assumption:  All veterans deserve to have permanent, safe, high-quality and affordable housing.

Initiatives

Increase the authorization level of and appropriations for the VA Homeless Provider Grant and Per Diem program (GPD) to meet the demands for transitional housing assistance.  GPD provides competitive grants to community-based, faith-based and public organizations to offer transitional housing or service centers for homeless veterans. Special needs grants under this program should continue for women veterans, frail and elderly veterans, veterans with chronic mental illness and those who are terminally ill.

Ensure that grantees under the Homeless Provider Grant and Per Diem program are reimbursed for services to homeless veterans at the same rate that VA reimburses states for domiciliary care services provided in State Veterans Homes, without decrementing the GPD per diem rate based on other income streams.

Increase appropriations for the therapeutic residence (TR) component of the Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) program.  The CWT program assists veterans with disabilities to obtain competitive employment in the community and allows them to work in jobs they choose. The TR component provides transitional housing assistance to veterans with disabilities while they participate in the CWT program.

Establish additional domiciliary care capacity for homeless veterans, either within the VA system or via contractual arrangements with community-based providers.

Improve coordination between VA-supported Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education, and Networking Groups (CHALENGs) and HUD Continuum of Care programs

Enhance the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program, which provides permanent housing subsidies and case management services to homeless veterans with mental and addictive disorders, by appropriating funds for additional housing vouchers targeted to homeless veterans.

Require applicants for HUD McKinney-Vento homeless assistance funds to develop specific plans for housing and services to homeless veterans. Organizations receiving HUD McKinney-Vento homeless assistance funds should screen all participants for military service and make referrals as appropriate to VA and mainstream homeless assistance programs for which they qualify.

Authorize and appropriate funds for a targeted permanent housing assistance program for low-income veterans. 

Ensure government agency compliance with statutory requirements to make surplus, excess, underutilized and unutilized federal properties available to nonprofit, profit, and public organizations for development of permanent and transitional housing units for people experiencing homelessness. Where necessary, streamline the approval process to make planning and developing such projects more practical for local homeless service providers.

4. Prevent Homelessness

Guiding Assumption:  No veteran should experience homelessness.

Initiatives 

Assess all service members separating from the Armed Forces to determine their risk of homelessness and provide life skills training to help them avoid homelessness. 

Encourage VA facilities – in addition to correctional, residential health care, and other custodial facilities receiving federal funds (including Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement) – to develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure the discharge of persons from such facilities into stable transitional or permanent housing and appropriate supportive services.  Discharge planning protocols should include providing information about VA resources and assisting persons in applying for income security and health security benefits (such as Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Insurance, veteran disability compensation, and Medicaid) prior to release.

Advocate for increased authorization level and appropriations for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP).  EFSP provides funds to community-based, faith-based and public organizations to enable them to offer food, lodging, and mortgage, rental or utility assistance to persons who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

About NCHV

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV), established in 1990, is a nonprofit organization with the mission of ending homelessness among veterans by shaping public policy, promoting collaboration, and building the capacity of service providers.

NCHV was founded by a group of community-based homeless veteran service providers who sought to educate the public about the extraordinarily high percentage of veterans among the homeless population and to place the needs of homeless veterans on the national public policy agenda. The founders, all former members of the military, were concerned that neither the public nor policy makers understood either the unique reasons for homelessness among veterans or appreciated the reality that so many veterans were overlooked and underserved during their periods of personal crisis.

In the years since its founding, NCHV's membership has grown to over 260 organizations in 48 states and the District of Columbia. The majority of NCHV members provide housing and supportive services to homeless veterans and their families, such as street outreach, drop-in centers, emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent housing, recuperative care, hospice care, food and clothing, primary health care, addiction and mental health services, employment supports, educational assistance, legal aid and veteran and public benefit advocacy. NCHV members also include faith-based groups, VA medical centers, state offices of veterans affairs, cities, all major veteran service organizations and many of their state departments and affiliates, and for-profit corporations.

back to top