VA Announces Grants to Help End Veteran Homelessness
The Department of Veterans Affairs has provided over $800 million in grants in 2024 to help end veteran homelessness.
This money is set aside for community agencies that serve veterans rather than being paid directly to the veterans themselves. Working with such agencies is a key part of the VA outreach program to help end homelessness among veterans.
According to the VA official site, VA work in this area includes “Collaborating with federal, state and local agencies; employers; housing providers, faith-based and community nonprofits; and others to expand employment and affordable housing options for Veterans exiting homelessness.”
Read next: Disabled Veteran Benefits Guide
Two VA Grant Programs for Homeless Veterans
The 2024 grants are available through two programs: the Supportive Services for Veteran Families and Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem:
- Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF): Through the SSVF program, the VA provides funding for community organizations “that help rapidly rehouse Veterans and their families, prevent the imminent loss of Veterans’ homes, or identify more suitable housing situations” according to a VA press release.
- Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program: GPD receives 14 grants worth nearly $9 million. These funds are for agencies “that provide Veterans with transitional housing and case management.” These VA grants fund “transitional housing beds to support special populations of homeless Veterans including women, elderly, terminally ill, chronically mentally ill, or those who care for minor dependents.”
The VA press release states that ending veteran homelessness is an important part of the VA mission. The problem was reportedly reduced by 52% between 2010 and 2024, and the VA’s 2024 goal was to provide housing for more than 40,000 veterans.
“We’re making real progress in reducing Veteran homelessness, but there is much more work to do,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough, quoted in the VA press release.
He adds, “These grants allow VA and the entire Biden-Harris Administration, alongside community partners, to provide more housing and wraparound services to more homeless and at-risk Veterans than ever before.”
Department of Housing and Urban Development Plans
This help for homeless and potentially homeless veterans comes at around the same time as actions by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to make the HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program more accessible to veterans.
Under the HUD-VASH plan, VA disability benefits no longer count as “income” when qualifying for the program, expanding the number of vets who can use it.
According to the official site, HUD is expanding access to HUD-VASH for veterans by:
- Requiring public housing agencies using HUD-VASH “to set the initial income eligibility for veterans at 80% of Area Median Income, rather than 50% of Area Median Income.”
- Using that higher initial income eligibility criteria “is currently optional and many housing agencies have already adopted the higher threshold,” but under the updated rules, the higher income issue is now mandatory effective in 2024 and beyond.
- Agencies must now use “an alternative definition of annual income for applicants and participants of the HUD-VASH program that excludes veterans’ service-connected disability benefits when determining eligibility.”
According to VA.gov, “Before this change, these benefits were considered income when determining eligibility for certain supportive housing developments—causing some veterans to exceed the income threshold for these programs.” The HUD policy change allows more veterans to qualify for public housing.
Read next: Disabled Veteran Benefits Guide
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
