The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) announced on September 13 that the Western Pennsylvania Continuum of Care (Western PA CoC) has effectively ended veteran homelessness. This means the Western PA CoC has built a system that can quickly identify and house any veteran experiencing homelessness within the CoC’s 20-county region. The Western PA CoC collaborated with federal agencies, state agencies, and local organizations to ensure veteran homelessness is rare, brief and non-recurring.
Veterans are at a high risk of homelessness throughout the U.S., and Pennsylvania is no exception. According to the USICH, there were 982 homeless veterans in Pennsylvania as of January 2018. Since taking office in 2015, Governor Tom Wolf (D) has prioritized reducing the state’s veteran homeless population and joined the USICH Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness. A community must meet the requirements outlined in the USICH criteria and benchmarks to receive federal confirmation it has ended veteran homelessness.
The declaration that the Western CoC has effectively ended veteran homelessness is the culmination of four years of work by the Western CoC’s Veteran Committee. The committee, chaired by Lawrence County Community Action staff members Kathy Presnar and Missy Russell and supported by Doug Tetrault, senior associate from the Technical Assistance Collaborative, brought together a broad array of key partners. Those partners included the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), the five VA medical centers serving the region, HUD, state agencies (the state VA and the Department of Community and Economic Development), veteran services providers (Supportive Services for Veteran Families providers, Grant and Per Diem providers, VA-funded providers, and local veterans groups and foundations, among others), homeless-services providers, housing providers, community-services providers, and the Western PA CoC.
The CoC met the USICH’s benchmarks for effectively ending homelessness among veterans, meaning that now, whenever veterans experience homelessness, the CoC identifies them quickly and houses them in fewer than 90 days; identifies veterans experiencing chronic homelessness and houses them quickly; provides enough housing and service resources in the community to assist any veteran experiencing homelessness; and provides long-term housing resources instead of relying on short-term interventions.
State officials commended the Western PA CoC’s success in ending veteran homelessness and committed to continuing this work. The Wolf Administration approved more than $5 million in funding from the Emergency Solutions Grant program on September 26 to aid homeless families and promote homelessness-prevention across Pennsylvania.
For more information about this effort, contact Kathy Presnar (724-658-7258 x1213 [email protected]) or Missy Russell (724-658-7258 x1414 [email protected])