VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System

Roger Johnson, VA Medical Center Director, addresses participants at the Veterans Homeless Summit.

The Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Wednesday hosted its first-ever Veterans Homeless Summit on Wednesday with a goal of expanding community partnerships to end Veteran homelessness.

Although originally planned to be an annual event, the feedback received from the more than 30 community leaders present, encouraged the center’s Veterans Homeless Program staff to assist in developing  a community steering committee and working groups that would meet over the next year to address the challenges associated with Veterans and homelessness.

“The input we received was extremely gratifying,” said Kurt Zellen, a social worker with the program.  “As we went through the meeting, we heard from veterans organizations and community providers who work with Veterans and it became clear that we really need to have a regular structure in place where we can synchronize our efforts and work together to end homelessness for our Veterans.”
 
From the western Massachusetts hub for health care for Veterans in Northampton and three community based clinics in Springfield, Pittsfield, and Greenfield, more than 15,000 of the 60,000 Veterans of Western Massachusetts receive a range of medical care across a wide continuum.  At least 250 homeless Veterans received VA support in 2010 at one of the four western Massachusetts locations.

“If we are to end homelessness in our region and in our nation, it will take all of us in this room,” Roger Johnson, Northampton VA Medical Center director, told summit participants.  “Resources alone won't end homelessness -- people will. Determined people like yourselves who know the causes; who know what may work and what won't.  That’s why this summit is so important.”
 
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki, has developed a strong national five-year plan to end homelessness among Veterans. 
 
Locally, the Northampton VA has a 12-person team to identify and help homeless Veterans in need.

In the last fiscal year, the VA spent more than $3 million to support Veterans in western Massachusetts with transitional housing, serving more than 500 Veterans.   This included specialty programs for emergency shelter contract beds and seriously mentally ill beds, in addition to general grant and per diem homeless beds.

The Northampton program has also issued 140 HUD-VASH (federal Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing) vouchers, which helps Veterans and their families successfully move out of homelessness.
   
In a unique program, the Northampton VA budgeted $225,000 for Veteran homeless dental care.  Last year, more than $113,000 was spent in this dental program.

During the two-hour summit, VA program directors identified some of the chronic needs associated with assisting homeless Veterans: providing education, training and jobs; treating depression; fighting substance abuse; increasing the availability of transportation for Veterans requiring services; and providing safe housing.
 
“Our purpose here today is to coordinate, to collaborate, to partner,” Johnson told participants.

Transportation, in particular, was identified as a significant and urgent need in helping Veterans access services, whether it be from the rural hill towns or from urban centers like Holyoke and Springfield.

Other community service providers emphasized the importance of early intervention in addressing key contributing factors to homelessness and ensuring Veterans know what is available.

“You can have all the programs in the world but they won’t matter if you don’t have early intervention efforts in place and the outreach methods – advertising if you will – to get the information to the Veteran,” said one community leader.

The next step, according to Zellen, will be developing a steering committee of VA program managers, community providers, and Veterans along with working groups in five key areas: housing, Veteran-specific day programming and socialization, employment, and transportation.

“Our success in this venture is not possible without you,” Zellen told participants.

Organizations represented at the summit included: Soldier On, the City of Springfield Housing Authority, Mercy Medical Center Health Care for the Homeless, the Western Massachusetts Bi-Lingual Veterans Outreach Center, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the New England Farm Workers Council, the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office, Service Net, Forum House, Star Light, Human Resources Unlimited, the Massachusetts Veterans Advocacy Project, The Recovery Project, Tapestry Health, Mason Square Veteran’s Center, and Central Hampshire Veterans Services.