Our Cincinnati/Hamilton County Continuum of Care is working to end homelessness for special populations. Including ending Veteran homelessness.
Locally we follow the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) benchmarks for ending Veteran homelessness. Many communities around the country have taken significant steps towards ending Veteran Homelessness. Additionally, 83 communities and three states ended veteran homelessness.
How we are ending Veteran homelessness in Cincinnati
There are special services and housing programs for Veterans. Therefore, it is important to find all the Veterans experiencing homelessness in our community. Veterans experiencing homelessness are identified by Case Managers at emergency shelters. Additionally, they are identified by Street Outreach Workers. The goal is to get all Veterans experiencing homelessness into permanent housing within 90 days. And doing it while adhering to Housing First principles.
Furthermore, ensuring that Veterans are connected with services and housing quickly is overseen by a Continuum of Care work group. They meet monthly to ensure that all the systems used to place Veterans into housing are working. And working quickly. This work group is led by staff from Strategies to End Homelessness, the VA Medical Center, emergency shelters, street outreach workers, and other community partners, such as law enforcement.
Housing for Veterans
Locally we work with two federally funded programs that place Veterans into affordable and stable housing. One is Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF). This program can place Veterans and their families into stable housing with supportive services. The supportive services can help ensure they can remain stably housing once exited from the program. This program can also prevent homelessness for Veteran Families by keeping them from losing their housing in the first place. Locally, long-time partner, Talbert House, operates SSVF.
Additionally, the other program that supports homeless Veterans is the Grant and Per Diem Program (GPD). Locally, Shelterhouse, Talbert House, Volunteers of America, Joseph House, and Ohio Valley Goodwill utilize this funding. The GPD program helps these organizations give specialized attention to Veterans at their shelters. Both SSVF and GPD funding come from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
For more details on all the pathways available to Veterans to move out of homelessness, take a look at this GPD article.
More Support for Veterans
Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Labor has a homeless Veteran specific program. The Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program (HVRP) works to get Veterans experiencing homelessness back into the workforce. Locally, Easterseals Redwood operates this program. The program offers job training, counseling, and job placement services.
Our local community has taken many steps towards alleviating Veteran homelessness.
Soon, hopefully, Cincinnati/Hamilton County will be on the list of communities that ended Veteran homelessness.
