FILE PHOTO: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – JUNE 16: A military veteran leaves a Stand Down event designed to help veterans who are homeless or housing insecure on June 16, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. The semi-annual event helps veterans who are experiencing homelessness connect with services to find them housing. The event also connects veterans with agencies to help with medical services, food, clothing, and also helps veterans navigate the VA benefits system. There are an estimated 500 homeless veterans in the Chicago area, and 38,000 nationwide. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) The Department of Veterans Affairs awarded more than $800 million to local nonprofits around the United States to fund rapid rehousing efforts for veterans and help low-income families avoid slipping into homelessness.
The funds were awarded across 253 grants, with the awarding of them announced on Friday, Aug. 16. The nonprofits, which work to build trust with unhoused veterans to provide them with help, rely on these types of grants to pay for urgent bills or emergency costs facing veterans and their families.
Roughly $8.9 million is going to the VA’s Grants and Per Diem Program, which funds nonprofits that help unhoused veterans get into transitional housing, to eventually find permanent homes. The money also supports case workers who help link the veterans to those spaces — often hotel or motel rooms — and offer services such as job training or education. The VA noted that these specific funds are aimed at certain groups, such as women or elderly veterans.
The larger grant allotment, approximately $797.5 million, is going to the VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program. This is aimed toward low-income veteran families either just falling into homelessness or on the verge. It provides money to rapidly rehouse those families or help them make payments to avoid losing their homes.
“We’re making real progress in reducing Veteran homelessness, but there is much more work to do,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in the department’s announcement . “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 […]
VA issues more than $800 million in grants to help homeless veterans
