As established in Opening Doors, the country is committed to the goal of ending homelessness among its Veterans. To that end, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched the Vets@Home technical assistance effort in July 2015, to provide technical assistance and additional resources to Continuums of Care (CoCs). Since then, over 130 communities have received technical assistance through Vets@Home.
Today, HUD is continuing its effort by inviting CoCs who are new to Vets@Home to request technical assistance. As of April 2017, some CoCs are continuing their TA engagements, and all CoCs are invited to receive TA through Vets@Home. CoCs new to Vets@Home should submit a TA request through the HUD Exchange’s Request Technical Assistance form. HUD will provide all CoCs requesting TA through Vets@Home with remote TA. HUD will provide more intensive and tailored TA to some CoCs based on 2016 Point-in-Time (PIT) count data, as well as information provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Requesting Vets@Home TA
After registering to create an account, log in to the HUD Exchange website to request the TA. Specify “Vets@Home Technical Assistance Request” in the subject line and select “Continuum of Care (CoC) Organization” under “Organization Type.” In the box for “Overall Need for Technical Assistance,” describe the activities related to ending veterans’ homelessness that your community would benefit from the most.
Vets@Home TA Activities
Examples of activities for which technical assistance could be provided are:
- Understanding and measuring progress using the Federal Partner Criteria and Benchmarks to end Veteran Homelessness;
- Building an effective veteran leadership team that is transparent and accountable;
- Using data and data analytics to identify Veteran populations and local needs, measurable system goals, and in developing a prioritization and placement strategy to meet needs and goals;
- Expediting and scaling up housing search, targeting, and placement capacity;
- Reducing timelines for placing Veterans in VA/HUD permanent housing projects, including supportive housing opportunities. This includes expanding access to affordable permanent housing via more effective use of resources such as Rapid Re-Housing assistance, HOME/Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, and Public Housing Agencies/Housing Choice Voucher preferences;
- Identifying resources for Veterans who are not eligible for VA health or housing services; and
- Creating a master list of all homeless veterans within the CoC.
CoCs Participating in the Zero: 2016, 25 Cities, or HUD Priority Communities TA Initiatives
CoCs Participating in the Zero: 2016, 25 Cities, or HUD Priority Communities TA Initiatives should first work with their current HUD TA provider to make adjustments to the existing TA work plan. To obtain contact information for the lead TA provider, please submit a request to the CoC Program Ask A Question (AAQ) portal. To submit a question to the CoC Program AAQ portal, select “CoC Program” from the “My question is related to” drop down list on Step 2 of the question submission process.
To access more resources targeted toward homeless veteran service providers, visit the Veteran Homelessness page on the HUD Exchange.
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