* Editor’s note: I put the asterisk in the headline because, as you’ll see below, the statistics provided by HUD and are from 2013. That said, more statistics and analysis are provided in this article.

 

I recently saw online a post from the Veterans Health Administration about a relatively new federal initiative to help homeless veterans called “25 Cities — Working Together To End Veteran and Chronic Homelessness.”

The VA article caught my attention in part because of the extreme cold we experienced last week and for much of this week, as well as the compelling lead of the article “Joint Effort Helps Homeless Vets in 25 Cities,” by VA staff writer Hans Petersen:

“During one of the coldest weeks of this winter, it is difficult to imagine what it must be like to have no heat, no home, and no help. VA is working hard every day to get that help to America’s Veterans who are experiencing homelessness.

“In March 2014, VA launched the 25 Cities Initiative to assist communities with high concentrations of homeless veterans in intensifying and integrating their local efforts to end veteran homelessness. As of August 2014, the efforts of the 25 Cities Initiative had helped house 10,096 homeless veterans and non-veterans.”

Chicago is one of those 25 cities, so I asked our resident expert, Kane County Veterans Assistance Superintendent Jake Zimmerman, to let me know if the initiative affected Kane County. As usual, Zimmerman came back almost instantly with more information that quantifies the issue locally, as well as a summary of what his office is doing to address the problem. Many of today’s veterans have mental and financial issues that they need help dealing with, there are now veterans debt consolidation loans as well as services like VA to help them get back on their feet.

“We have a pretty good homeless triage system currently set up where we make sure those folks who come in that are in dire need (which is rare) are connected with the proper services immediately,” Zimmerman wrote.

In summary, you can see from his response that the most-recent count of homeless veterans in Kane County, gathered by Housing and Urban Development in 2013, indicated that there were 37 homeless veterans in Kane County. Zimmerman’s Veterans Assistance program helps connect those veterans with a number of agencies that serve this area, which you’ll see below.

As Zimmerman notes, it’s rare for homeless veterans to seek help from his office. The Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans is likely the local point agency for the federal “25 cities” initiative, “given that they were awarded the grant from the VA to prevent homelessness in the collar counties, including Kane,” Zimmerman said.

Another resource for homeless veterans in Kane County is the Hines homeless veterans program, which has received awards for being one of the top ranked — if not the top-ranked — programs of its kind in the country.

A number of surprising facts and valuable pieces of information about homeless veterans, areawide and nationally, are provided in Zimmerman’s email, which I’ve pasted below:

1. Facts and estimates on homeless veterans in the local area (and nationally if we have the data)

Per the HUD Point in Time (PIT) count, there were approximately 57,849 veterans nationwide were homeless on a single night in January 2013. Within that 57,849, some of the counties in which those veterans were identified are as follows:

• Chicago — 712 Veterans
• Suburban Cook County — 121 Veterans
• Aurora/Elgin/Kane County — 37 Veterans
• DuPage County — 19 Veterans
• Joliet/BolingBrook/Will County — 30 Veterans
• McHenry County — 25 Veterans

Total: 944 homeless veterans in Chicago area

This makes up for less than 2 percent of the total homeless veteran population per the 2013 PIT.

You can also find some information on Veteran statistics at this link.

 

2. Information about the Hines homeless veterans program

The Hines Health Care for Homeless Veterans program is one of the resources available to Kane County veterans. It consists of Social Workers, RNs, Peer Support Specialists, Vocational Development Specialist, and Program Support Assistants. The overall program consists of five sub-specialty programs:

(1) Housing and Urban Development Veterans Affairs Supported Housing, a permanent supported housing program for Veterans needing a subsidy and ongoing case management in order to live independently in the community;

(2) Veteran’s Justice Outreach Program in which social workers interact with the court systems that have specialized Veterans Treatment Courts in order to help Veterans get connected to the care they need and help divert unnecessary jail time when possible. This role is also responsible for educating law enforcement personnel about Veterans and Veteran-specific issues as well as conducting jail outreach;

(3) Contract Emergency Residential Services is a short-term transitional housing program in which a Veteran can be placed on contract at a community based site that will provide housing, food, and case management services for a short-period of time while helping the Veteran achieve their transition into permanent/stable housing;

(4) Grant and Per Diem is another transitional housing program in which a Veteran can be referred to a community provider which has been awarded a national grant to provide GPD transitional housing for up to 24 months. While in GPD housing the Veterans receive intensive case management to assist them in working to overcome all barriers to permanent housing including employment assistance;

(5) HCHV Case Management is short-term case management services to assist Veterans with resources and referrals to any of the potential VA resources as well as a ton of community based resources. The HCHV Case Manager often gives the referral, assists with application completion, and advocates on behalf the veterans on their assigned case load.

“The Hines HCHV program uses a ‘no wrong door approach’ to ending homelessness,” Hines VA says on its website. “A great deal of what is done is connecting veterans to existing community resources. We are often the first encounter with the VA, so we also help them get connected to some of the great services provided at VA, such as medical, mental health, and when needed, specialty care.

“Our three goals in the HCHV program are to help veterans achieve clinical, financial, and housing stability so we try to address all situations using a systems approach. However, the homeless program also uses a ‘housing first’ model, which means that no one is denied access to our services even if they are actively using or refusing medical care.

“The program does not require a veteran to be literally homeless in order to receive care. The idea is to rapidly rehouse those that are chronically and literally homeless while utilizing homeless prevention resources to help those that are at risk of losing their housing from ever becoming homeless. Therefore, the HCHV program serves veterans who are literally homeless, doubled up, at risk, and those fleeing domestic violence situations or other non-sustainable housing options.”

In May 2014, Hines was named Federal Agency of the Year during the Chicago Federal Executive Board’s annual Federal Employee of the Year awards ceremony for the initiatives and community partnerships implemented in its Homeless Veterans Program.

Here is a link to the Hines HCHV program website.

 

3. Information about President Obama’s call to end veteran homelessness, and what we’ve accomplished at Hines.

Here is some information about the president’s national initiative.

The homeless program has expanded significantly since President Obama’s call to end Veteran homelessness in 2009. Specifically, we have added staff and programs to our local homeless program. The CERS and VJO programs have started since President Obama’s announcement. Other programs have gotten stronger, such as HUD-VASH and GPD. Even the HCHV Case Management program was strengthened by adding a Rural Outreach case manager and a Case Manager designated to Kendall, Will, and Grundy Counties.

• The Hines HCHV program served 3,622 unique Veterans in FY 2014 (October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014). This was a 62% increase since FY 2010 and even a 10% increase since FY 2013.
• The Hines HUD-VASH team housed more than 350 Veterans in permanent supported, subsidized housing in FY 2014
• The CERS program placed 158 Veterans in housing via emergency and transitional housing contracts in FY 2014
• The GPD program housed 153 Veterans in FY 2014 and had 88 discharges, 91% of which were to permanent housing
• VJO Coordinators actively participate in 6 Veterans Treatment Courts and outreach jails in 13 communities; they have also assisted 71 Veterans in FY 2014 with child support issues by connecting them to the Office of Child Support for modification reviews assistance with arrearages
• The HCHV Case Managers provided face-to-face resource and referrals (R&R) to 990 Veterans in FY 2014. Of those, approximately 13% were from DuPage and Kane counties.

Analysis:

• Of the total, 990 seen in R&R, 22 percent were literally homeless; 25 percent were doubled up; and 34 percent were at risk (other categories are transitionally housed and permanent housing)
• 31 percent had zero income, 30 percent received between $1-$1,058/month; 38 percent had a monthly income greater than $1,058.
• 14 percent were chronically homeless

 

4. Resources for homeless veterans in the Kane County/Western DuPage County area

• River Haven Place in East Dundee, IL. This is the subsidized duplexes and townhomes.
• Hope for Tomorrow, Opportunity House in Aurora that provides the CERS transitional housing.
• Lazarus House – St. Charles
• HESED House – Aurora
• PADs of Elgin – Elgin
• Community Crisis Center
• Ecker Center
• DuPage PADS
• Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans in Wheaton- transitional and permanent housing as well as an array of other Veteran services
• Catholic Charities – Hope House
• CHAD
• Bridge Communities

 

Read More

• The Courier-News: Local programs helping to end homelessness among veterans