WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today announced that Missouri is receiving federal funds from the Departments of Labor and Housing and Urban Development to help homeless veterans.

 

“Our nation’s veterans are owed more than a blanket and a hot meal,” said Bond. “As our nation celebrates Independence Day these funds are a way of saying thanks to the patriots who sacrificed for our freedom. This money is an important part of the government's efforts in ending the unacceptable tragedy of homelessness among our veterans by providing the health care, mental health care, transitional services, and housing they need to be integrated back into their communities and former lives”

 

Bond announced that the St. Patrick Center in St. Louis is receiving $300,000 in federal funds as part of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program (HVRP).  Under the HVRP, homeless veterans will receive occupational, classroom and on-the-job training, including job search, placement assistance and follow-up services.  The program also assists veterans with supportive services such as shelter, counseling, transportation and clothing.  The funds are being awarded to the St. Patrick Center in St. Louis. Bond praised the St. Patrick’s Center for their critical work. St. Patrick’s is the largest provider of homeless services in Missouri, with more than 20 programs assisting more than 9,000 persons annually who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The center helps individuals and families move from homelessness to independence in a measurable, cost-effective manner.

 

Bond also announced that Missouri’s Public Housing Authorities are receiving vouchers through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program.   As part of this announcement, the St. Louis Housing Authority will receive 35 vouchers, the Columbia Housing Authority will receive 35 vouchers, and the Springfield Housing Authority will receive 35 vouchers.  HUD-VASH is a joint program between HUD and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which provides Section 8 vouchers to house homeless veterans. Under this program, veterans will be able to use Section 8 and the supportive services they need to be integrated back into their communities and former lives, emphasized Bond.

 

Bond, who has fought to improve and streamline the VA since he chaired the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funded the agency, pointed out ongoing problems in meeting homeless veterans’ needs.  Bond reactivated the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness in 2000 to improve federal coordination of homeless assistance programs, increased funding for VA programs to prevent and end homelessness, and worked with Senator Murray (D-WA) to provide permanent housing through the HUD-VASH program.  While these measures were important steps, the Senator stressed that the VA needs to do more and partner better with its federal partners and local providers to help get homeless veterans off the street.

 

According to recent government estimates, about 15 percent of the homeless using shelters in the U.S. are veterans. Bond also pointed out that homelessness is a major problem among Iraq and Vietnam veterans, particularly those who are not insured and may have both physical and psychological problems like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

 

Bond, a long-time leader in the fight to end homelessness and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, secured $75 million in federal funds with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to start this new partnership between HUD and the VA to help homeless veterans in the fiscal year 2009 Transportation-Housing spending bill.

 

Also, in May, the bill cosponsored by Senators Bond and Jack Reed (D-RI), the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, was signed into law. The HEARTH Act builds upon programs, like permanent supportive housing, and provides $2.2 billion for targeted homelessness assistance grant programs; increase current levels of funding for homelessness assistance grants by $600 millions and allocate up to $440 million for homelessness prevention initiatives. It will also expand the definition for homelessness to allow families on the verge of becoming homeless to qualify for assistance and will reauthorize federal homelessness aid programs for the first time since 1989.

 

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