HUD cannot end homelessness alone. The initiatives and programs on this page emphasize HUD federal partners, such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Department of Education (ED), and U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), as well as local partners such as the National League of Cities.
HUD, the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National League of Cities are calling on mayors to make a commitment to end Veteran homelessness in their cities in 2015.
Learn about the Mayors Challenge
This tool was developed to help communities develop or improve their master list – also known as the “active” or “by-name” list – in order to meet the Criteria for Achieving the Goal of Ending Veteran Homelessness. Users should closely review the Criteria for Achieving the Goal of Ending Veteran Homelessness and Specifications of Benchmarks (v3) when using the template and generation tool. This tool is voluntary and not required by the Federal partners. This tool was developed in part with VA SSVF technical assistance resources.
View the Master List Template and Benchmark Generation Tool
This tool provides a criteria checklist and benchmark worksheet to help communities assess their progress toward ending Veterans homelessness relative to the Federal Criteria and Benchmarks for ending homelessness among Veterans. This tool is voluntary and not required by the Federal partners.
View the Federal Criteria and Benchmarks Review Tool
Vets@Home HUD technical assistance helps Continuums of Care (CoCs) meet the goal established in Opening Doors of ending veteran homelessness by December 31, 2015. As part of Vets@Home technical assistance, a series of four toolkits have been developed as guides and resources for use by CoCs as they work to end homelessness for veterans. The toolkits can be used together or individually.
View the toolkits:
The toolkits include identification of best practices, key strategies, action items and considerations for CoCs, Veterans Affairs (VA) partners, and local public officials that can be implemented immediately to focus efforts on ending homelessness for veterans.
Any CoC may receive TA through Vets@Home. To do so, a CoC should submit a TA request through the HUD Exchange’s Request Technical Assistance form. HUD will provide all CoCs requesting TA though Vets@Home with remote TA.
From 2016 - 2018, over 109 CoCs received Vets@Home Technical Assistance to help them decrease the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness in their community. The following Vets@Home Highlight Sheets provide strategies, resources, ideas, and lessons learned from those communities on six different topic areas. The strategies and ideas have been successfully implemented toward achieving the goal to end homelessness among Veterans and may be able to assist your community to do the same.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), launched the 25 Cities Effort in March 2014. The 25 Cities Effort is a key Federal strategy through which 25 communities, including Washington, DC, are receiving technical assistance and are mobilizing local planning efforts and partnerships to create effective systems for aligning housing and services interventions through coordinated systems to end homelessness.
Led by VA, in partnership with HUD and USICH, the aim of this effort is to assist 25 communities in accelerating and aligning their existing efforts toward the creation of coordinated assessment and entry systems, laying the foundation for ending all homelessness in these communities.
25 Cities Effort Launched to Assist Communities to End Homelessness
Built for Zero is a movement made up of more than 80 cities and counties that have committed to measurably ending homelessness, one population at a time. Using data, these communities have changed how local homeless response systems work and the impact they can achieve.
HUD-VASH is a joint program between HUD and the VA. HUD provides housing choice vouchers and VA provides case management and outreach. This program targets veterans who are currently homeless.
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HUDVet facilitates collaboration among Federal agencies and veteran-serving organizations regarding programs for veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. For more information, visit the Veterans and HUD page. Contact hudvet@hud.gov.
HVRP is the only federal program wholly dedicated to providing employment assistance to homeless veterans. HVRP programs fill a special need because they serve veterans who may be shunned by other programs and services because of problems such as severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), long histories of substance abuse, serious psychosocial problems, legal issues, and those who are HIV-positive. These veterans require more time-consuming, specialized, intensive assessment, referrals and counseling than is possible in other programs that work with veterans seeking employment.
The employment focus of HVRP distinguishes it from most other programs for the homeless, which concentrate on more immediate needs such as emergency shelter, food and substance abuse treatment. While these are critical components of any homeless program, and grantees are required to demonstrate that their clients' needs in those areas are met, the objective of HVRP programs is to enable homeless veterans to secure and keep jobs that will allow them to re-enter mainstream society as productive citizens.
The purpose of the SSVF Program is to provide supportive services grants to private non-profit organizations and consumer cooperatives who will coordinate or provide supportive services to very low-income veteran families who are residing in permanent housing, are homeless and scheduled to become residents of permanent housing within a specified time period, or after exiting permanent housing, are seeking other housing that is responsive to such very low-income veteran family’s needs and preferences. The new SSVF Program is within the continuum of VA’s homeless services programs.
VHPD was a three year program, completed in January 2015. HUD, Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Department of Labor (DOL) partnered together to provide HUD housing assistance, VA case management services, and DOL employment counseling in five selected communities. All five communities participating in this demonstration were strategically selected due to their proximity to a military base, concentration of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and availability of resources. One of the program’s primary objectives was to provide combined early intervention services for veterans who were at a high risk of becoming homeless, particularly veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and women veterans.
Stay tuned for the final VHPD report.