Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County Earns Grant to Keep Veterans from Becoming Homeless

Kicking off a new program to help prevent veterans from becoming homeless and ending short term homelessness, stafff from the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Veterans Affairs and Labor are meeting in Tampa on Wednesday with representatives from the five communities selected for the Veterans’ Homeless Prevention Demonstration Project (VHPD).

Tampa is one of the five communities selected for this pilot program. The Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County will present information on how it plans to implement the program locally to the group on 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. at the Double Tree, 4500 W. Cypress St., spokeswoman Lesa Weikel said in a news release.

The program targets veterans returning from Iraq (Operation Enduring Freedom) and Afghanistan (Operation Iraqi Freedom), female veterans, veterans with families, especially those with a single head of household, National Guard and Reservists. Veterans from other military eras also are eligible. It provides financial assistance for housing, case management and supportive services including employment services, childcare and credit repair.

In addition to assisting veterans from becoming homeless and ending short term homelessness, VHPD is a way for the federal government to explore ways to help end veteran homelessness in five years, Weikel said in the release.

The five communities in the nation selected for this program were selected based on their high performance with HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grant, their capacity to administer the program and proximity to military bases. The communities selected are:

• Tampa/Hillsborough County Homeless Continuum of Care (led by the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County)
• San Diego, CA (Camp Pendleton),
• Killien, TX (Fort Hood),
• Watertown, NY (Fort Drum) and
• Tacoma, WA (Joint Base Lewis-McChord

To qualify for the program, a veteran must be eligible for VA health care, at-risk of becoming homeless or homeless for less than 90 days, have a household income below 50 percent of area median income and have no other resources or supports available to prevent homelessness.

For more information on the VHPD program, visit HUD’s Web site, www.hudhre.info, and then search VHPD. Here you will find all the information and regulations for the VHPD program. Local information can be found on the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County’s website, www.homelessofhc.org.