It is estimated that there are 40,056 veterans that experience homelessness in the United States. Imagine this — to come back to your homeland after serving your country only to find that you have no home to call your own. Addressing veteran homelessness is not a matter of money or other tangible resources, but a matter of public will. Where there is a will, there is a way. The only way that we, as a nation, will be able to truly end veteran homelessness is if we, as a nation, speak out on the issue.
The Comitis Crisis Center in Aurora is one of the few homeless shelters in the United States that will take a veteran and his or her family and provide them all with a place to stay — for free — for up to two years. The program itself is a part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Homeless Providers Grant and Per-Diem Program. This program awards grants to community-based agencies that provide transitional housing and supportive services to assist homeless veterans in achieving residential stability and self-sufficiency. The VA provides per diem payments to non-profit organizations to help offset the operational costs of these programs.
In fiscal year 2017 alone, 600 grant-funded sites across the country provided services to 23,737 veterans through the use of more than 12,500 transitional housing beds. It is estimated that 2,500 dependent children of veterans stayed in this program, and 13 percent of those served were homeless women.
It is important that our services for veterans continually adapt to the changing face of our modern military, including the services offered by the Veterans Affairs GPD program. If you are a non-veteran homeless family in the United States, federal funds will pay a “head-in-bed” per diem for each family member to the service agency housing the family. If you are a veteran homeless family, the VA’s Grant and Per Diem Program will only pay for the cost of occupancy for the veteran but not for the attached and dependent children. This issue causes a barrier to access shelter services for both male and female veterans with children, but more so for veteran women, who usually have children in tow. For some programs, the only way to keep a veteran and their family members safely housed is to split them up.
Adapting policy to the changing needs of our homeless veterans, the crisis center supports House Resolution 4099: To amend Title 38, U.S. Code, to ensure that children of homeless veterans are included in the calculation of the amounts of certain per diem grants. Resolution 4099, also known as the “Homeless Veteran Families Act,” is a bi-partisan bill that brings us one step closer to be able to provide better care for our veterans and their family members. This bill was introduced by Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., and originally co-sponsored by Congresswoman Julia Brownley, D-Calif. It has attracted 167 co-sponsors in the House, including all of our representatives here in Colorado.
In addition to the Comitis Crisis Center, The American Legion, The Wounded Warrior Project, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Got Your 6, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military Order of the Purple Heart, American Veterans, also known as AMVETS, Gold Star Wives of America, National Coalition for the Homeless and National Volunteers of America also support this bill.
The men and women who fight for our homeland deserve the best our nation has to offer, especially a safe place to call home. This also includes any dependent children.
So what can you do?
As the House bill is gaining momentum, I encourage you to call your U.S. senator, either Sen. Cory Gardner or Sen. Michael Bennet, and ask for them to co-sponsor Senate bill 112 “Creating a Reliable Environment for Veterans’ Dependents Act.” This bi-partisan bill seeks to extend the per-diem to cover both the children and spouses and will ensure that our homeless veteran families can stay together as a family.
To address veteran homelessness, we need to look in and not out. It is within your own will and voice and power and time to speak up and make a real difference.
Will you fight for those who have fought for us?
— James Gillespie is Community Impact and Government Relations for Comitis Crisis Center in Aurora