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Virginia Capitol C onnections, Spring 2015
10
Virginia Making Strides
Towards Ending Veteran
Homelessness in 2015
By Matt Leslie
In January 2014, The US Department
of Housing and Urban Development
found that, on any given night, there were
approximately 620 homeless veterans
in Virginia. Governor Terry McAulliffe
quickly responded to this problem by
becoming just the fourth Governor to join
the Mayors’ Challenge to End Veteran
Homelessness, publicly committing to
eradicate veterans homelessness in Virginia
by the end of 2015. Thus, the charge to the
Virginia Department of Veterans Service:
End Veterans Homelessness by 2015. Fast forward--on February 5th,
2015 at theVirginiaWar Memorial in Richmond, Governor McAuliffe
joined state, local, private and federal leaders to recognize community
partners from Roanoke, Richmond, the Peninsula, and South Hampton
Roads who participated in a “100 Day Challenge” to combat veteran
homelessness inVirginia. By the January 30, 2015 end of the 100-Day
Challenge, 462 formerly homeless veterans had gained access to a
permanent home of their own. Some of those veterans now have a place
to call home for the first time in years, including a veteran in Hampton
who spent 22 years on the street. This far exceeds the original goal
of the 100 Day Challenge, and also represents approximately 75% of
the 2014 Point in Time Count. The Commonwealth is well on its way
toward eradicating veteran homelessness in Virginia.
So how did this happen? Once the problem was identified and
under the Governor’s leadership, your Department of Veterans
Services and a myriad of state and private partners took action. The
100 Day Challenge represented the first time any state had organized
a large scale, public/private initiative to end veteran homelessness.
The Governor’s Coordinating Council on Homelessness (GCCH), the
Virginia Department of Veterans Services, and the Virginia Coalition
to End Homelessness coordinated this initiative with support from the
Virginia Housing Development Authority and Virginia Department of
Housing and Community Development. The Challenge drove stronger
and streamlined coordination between local Continuums of Care,
Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Centers in Virginia, Public
Housing Authorities, state and local government, nonprofits, veteran
service organizations and faith based partners.
One of the keys to our success was utilizing the Housing First
approach. The Housing First system orientation recognizes that the
most fundamental need is indeed housing, and that without housing
other needs (such as mental illness, substance use, low income, history
of chronic homelessness, etc) cannot be completely addressed. By
implementing Housing First, the four 100 Day Challenge communities
have created systems that can effectively identify veterans through
coordinated, community outreach, and efficiently place Virginia’s
most vulnerable veterans into homes of their own with access to
supportive services.
This improved streamlining of coordination has yielded tangible
results—solving the homelessness problem for hundreds of Virginia’s
veterans. One such veteran is Robert Baldwin, a homeless Vietnam-
era Army veteran who was successfully housed in Richmond through
the 100 Day Challenge. After being honorably discharged in 1975,
Robert returned to his hometown of Richmond. Over the course of the
next four decades, Robert experienced periods of homelessness and
unemployment as he struggled with depression and substance abuse.
Through coordinated efforts by the Richmond 100 Day Challenge
team, he was housed in his own apartment throughVirginia Supportive
Housing in October 2014. Additionally, Robert is receiving counseling
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services through McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which
also helped to connect him with additional benefits including monthly
disability income. “I have freedom. Peace of mind.” Robert told the
Governor at the February event. “I can’t even describe it.” Robert
Baldwin’s story is just one example of how the increased coordination
and streamlined processes among VAMCs and community providers
have resulted in dramatic decreases in the turnaround time to place
veterans in housing, and leveraging additional community resources.