Homeless Vets Grant Programs Expanded By New Bill

Last week the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee approved a bill that could provide job opportunities and housing for homeless Veterans, especially women and Veterans with families.

Including two amendments by Sen. Jon Tester, these services would be offered to struggling Veterans across rural America.

S. 1237 would increase the Veterans Affairs grant program that pays up to 65 percent of construction costs associated with modernizing, expanding or building Veterans housing.  It would also establish a new grant program to assist homeless women Veterans and homeless Veterans with children in rejoining the labor force.

Tester’s unanimously approved amendments, appropriate at least 5 percent of the bill’s funds for programs in frontier and rural communities, It would also create an automatic enrollment system for National Guardsmen and Reservists. 5 percent is the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans’s estimate of the number of homeless Veterans in rural communities.

“The five percent that goes to creating better homes and making sure that that money is spent in rural areas is important,” Tester said in a phone interview with Helenair.com. “And that’s a minimum. They can spend more and that’s fine.”

Tester’s second amendment would establish a new VA enrollment system for demobilizing Reservists and Guardsmen. The law would automatically enroll eligible members.  It would still be up to the individual Veteran to decide if they wanted to use the VA services.

Source:  Helenair.com

The National Veterans Foundation’s Street Team Outreach Program loads up vans with provisions and counselors and go to some of the most disadvantaged locations in metro settings to offer a beacon of hope where there is darkness and despair.  The street teams may provide food, clothing, and awareness of services, but the more significant objective is to help rescue Veterans from the street, homelessness, substance abuse, and addiction – remove them from the negative environment, and immediately place them in to a recovery and transition facility. To support the National Veterans Foundation’s Street Team Outreach program, please visit www.help-veterans.org.