National Call Center for Homeless Veterans
VA has founded a National Call Center for Homeless Veterans to ensure that homeless Veterans or
Veterans at-risk for homelessness have free, 24/7 access to trained counselors. The hotline is intended
to assist homeless Veterans and their families, VA Medical Centers, federal, state and local partners,
community agencies, service providers and others in the community. To be connected with trained VA staff
member call 1-877-4AID VET (877-424-3838).
For more informaton, click to visit the
National Call Center website.
Healthcare for Reentry
The Health Care for Re-entry Veterans (HCRV) Program is designed to address the community
re-entry needs of incarcerated Veterans. HCRV's goals are to prevent homelessness,
reduce the impact of medical, psychiatric, and substance abuse problems upon community re-adjustment,
and decrease the likelihood of re-incarceration for those leaving
prison. For more information, clic to visit HCRV website.
Veteran Justice Outreach
The purpose of the Veteran Justice Outreach (VJO) initiative is to avoid the unnecessary
criminalization of mental illness and extended incarceration among Veterans by ensuring that eligible
justice-involved Veterans have timely access to VHA mental health and substance abuse services when
clinically indicated, and other VA services and benefits as
appropriate. For more information, click to visit the Veterans Justice Outreach webpage.
Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program
The Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program is a new VA program that will provide
supportive services to very low-income Veterans and their families who are in or transitioning to
permanent housing. VA will award grants to private non-profit organizations and consumer
cooperatives who will assist very low-income Veterans and their families by providing a range of
supportive services designed to promote housing stability. For more information, please see
the SSVF Program Factsheet,
the Proposed Rule,
and the Supportive Service for Veterans Families
Program
Department of Housing Urban Development/VA Supportive Housing
The Department of Housing and Urban Development and VA Supported Housing (HUD-VASH) Program provides permanent housing
and ongoing case management treatment services for homeless Veterans who require these supports to live independently.
HUD has allocated over 20,000 “Housing Choice” Section 8 vouchers to Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) throughout the
country for eligible homeless Veterans. This program allows Veterans and their families to live in Veteran-selected apartment units.
The vouchers are portable, allowing Veterans to live in communities where VA case management services
can be provided. This program provides for our most vulnerable Veterans, and is especially helpful to Veterans with
families, women Veterans, recently returning Veterans and Veterans with disabilities. Evaluation of an earlier,
similar program demonstrated that most Veteran participants remained permanently housed. For more information, visit the
HUD VASH website.
Grant & Per Diem
Grant and Per Diem (GPD) Program is offered annually (as funding permits) by the VA to fund community-based agencies
providing transitional housing or service centers for homeless Veterans. Under the Capital Grant Component VA may fund
up to 65% of the project for the construction, acquisition, or renovation of facilities or to purchase van(s) to
provide outreach and services to homeless Veterans. Per Diem is available to grantees to help off-set operational
expenses. Non-Grant programs may apply for Per Diem under a separate announcement, when published in the Federal
Register, announcing the funding for “Per Diem Only. For more information, visit
the Grant/Per Diem website.
Supported Housing
Like the HUD-VASH program identified above, staff in VA's Supported Housing Program provides ongoing case management services to homeless Veterans. Emphasis is placed on helping Veterans find permanent housing and providing clinical support needed to keep veterans in permanent housing. Staff in these programs operate without benefit of the special dedicated Section 8 housing vouchers available in the HUD-VASH program but are often successful in locating transitional or permanent housing through local means, especially by collaborating with Veterans Service Organizations.
Veteran Stand Downs
Stand Downs are one part of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ efforts to provide services to homeless
veterans. Stand Downs are typically one to three day events providing services to homeless Veterans such as food,
shelter, clothing, health screenings, VA and Social Security benefits counseling, and referrals to a variety of other
necessary services, such as housing, employment and substance abuse
treatment. Veteran Stand Downs website.
Homeless Veteran Dental Assistance
The Homeless Veteran Dental Program increases accessibility to quality dental care to homeless Veteran patients and to
help assure success in VA-sponsored and VA partnership homeless rehabilitation programs throughout the United States.
Veteran Dental Program website.
Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans
The Domiciliary Care Program is designed to provide state-of-the-art, high-quality residential rehabilitation and treatment services for Veterans with multiple and severe
medical conditions, mental illness, addiction, or psychosocial deficits. Domiciliary Care website.
National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans
The National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans is a forum to exchange new ideas; provide education and consultation to improve the delivery of services; and disseminate the knowledge gained through the efforts of the Center’s Research and Model Development Cores to VA, other federal agencies, and community provider programs that assist homeless populations. For more information, visit the National Center's website.
CHALENG
Project CHALENG (Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education and Networking Groups) for Veterans, an innovative program designed to enhance the continuum of care for homeless Veterans provided by the local VA and its surrounding community service agencies. The guiding principle behind Project CHALENG is that no single agency can provide the full spectrum of services required to help homeless Veterans become productive members of society. Project CHALENG enhances coordinated services by bringing the VA together with community agencies and other federal, state, and local governments who provide services to the homeless to raise awareness of homeless Veterans' needs and to plan to meet those needs.
For more information, visit the
CHALENG website.
Non-VA Resources for Assistance
Webpage with links to various websites to other Federal and community resources that could be helpful to
those who are homeless or are at risk for homelessness. For more information, visit the
Non-VA Resources website.