Help for Homeless Veterans
Contact:
Veteran and Employment Services
info@coloradocoalition.org
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless Expands Program to Help Homeless Veterans
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently awarded the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless more than $280,000 in annual funding to create twenty new transitional housing units for homeless veterans in Denver. Through this funding, CCH will house and serve 20 additional homeless veterans, bringing to 69 the total number of veterans it will serve at any point in time with secure housing, health care, substance abuse treatment, mental health counseling, and personal development and empowerment services.
The new transitional housing units will be located at the Coalition’s Renaissance at Civic Center Apartments in Downtown Denver. The VA grant will allow CCH to expand its treatment services for homeless veterans.
“This new resource comes at a time that we are seeing increasing numbers of homeless veterans in our community,” said John Parvensky, president of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. “This almost doubles our capacity to house our nation’s heroes who find themselves homeless with no support system.”
Veterans are disproportionately represented among those who are homeless. While eight percent of the general population can claim veteran status, about 30 percent of the entire U.S. homeless population are veterans at any given time.
Last year, in the Metro Denver area alone, 986 homeless adults identified themselves as having served in the U.S. military. According to a recent study of their health status and vulnerability to chronic and infectious diseases, almost 400 of these individuals are expected to die prematurely if they continue to live on the streets.
In general, Veterans have high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and sexual trauma, which can lead to higher risk for homelessness. About half of homeless Veterans have serious mental illness and 70 percent have substance abuse problems. Veterans are more likely to live outdoors, unsheltered, and experience long-term, chronic homelessness.
The need for supportive programs for veterans, like this one offered by the Coalition, is underscored in a 2007 report from the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health, which concluded that, “Despite the progressive recognition of the burden of mental illnesses and substance abuse and the development of many new and promising programs for their prevention and treatment, current efforts are inadequate to ensure the psychological health of our fighting forces.”
While the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness in America has been declining over the past two years, 107,000 former service men and women were homeless on a given night in 2009. Further, about 1.5 million more veterans are considered at-risk of homelessness due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing – factors which are compounded by a lack of family and social support networks.
Sixty-one percent of homeless Veterans are between ages 35 and 54. Though 96 percent of homeless Veterans are male, the number of female Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans experiencing homelessness is increasing as is the number of homeless Veterans who have dependent children.
VA's Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program is offered annually (as funding permits) by the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care for Homeless Veterans Programs to fund community agencies providing services to homeless Veterans. The purpose is to promote the development and provision of supportive housing and/or supportive services with the goal of helping homeless Veterans achieve residential stability, increase their skill levels and/or income, and obtain greater self-determination.
The mission of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless is to work collaboratively toward the prevention of homelessness and the creation of lasting solutions for homeless and at-risk families, children, and individuals throughout Colorado. The Coalition advocates for and provides a continuum of housing and a variety of services to improve the health, well-being and stability of those it serves. Since its founding almost 25 years ago, the organization has earned state and national recognition for its integrated healthcare, housing and service programs.
The Coalition’s comprehensive approach addresses the causes of homelessness, as well as the consequences, offering critical assistance to over 16,000 men, women and children each year.