With Memorial Day a few days away, the Homeless Veterans National Advocacy Working Group, convened several experts on Capitol Hill for a briefing on the federal programs that are successfully working to end this national tragedy. CSH is a member of the Working Group, which is an informal coalition of veterans service organizations and other advocacy organizations. Today’s meeting, Targeting Resources for Homeless Veterans was kicked off with comments by U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), who is the Ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and who has long championed housing and services to end homelessness for veterans. Burr said to a room packed with over 40 partners and advocates, “We have to be sure that government understands the human element of our programs and not just statistics or numbers on a page.”
Additional remarks were made by Barbara Poppe, Executive Director of USICH, ranking officials from the VA and a formerly homeless veteran.
CSH and our partners specifically called on Congress to continue support of the HUD-VA Supportive Housing (VASH) program by allocating another 10,000 VASH vouchers in Fiscal Year 2013, to provide additional funding for the Supportive Services for Veterans Families (SSVF) program at the VA, and to adequately fund the VA’s Grant and Per Diem program. In order to fully implement the Veterans Administration’s pledge to end homelessness among veterans by 2015, Congress must continue making responsible investments in affordable housing and supportive services programs that move veterans and their families off the streets and into stable housing.
