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04-02-04, 10:41 AM
VA Announces 80 Per Diem Awards for Homeless Assistance
>
> WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 1, 2004) - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
> (VA) has made 80 new awards to public and private nonprofit organizations
> to support their efforts to assist homeless veterans.
>
> "VA continues to play -- and must play -- a key role in providing health
> care to homeless veterans, through its own facilities and programs and
> through partnerships with community-based providers," said Secretary of
> Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi.
>
> Currently, an estimated 6,000 veterans sleep each night in beds already
> funded under VA's Homeless Providers Grants and Per Diem Program. Over
> 1,580 community-based beds, provided by public and private nonprofit
> organizations in 29 states and the District of Columbia, will be available
> with this new round of per diem awards.
>
> "These are the men and women who served our nation during its greatest
> times of need and who now live without shelter or food or medical care,"
> Principi added. "They are our country's forgotten heroes, who have every
> right to live the American dream."
>
> While there is no definite measure of the number of homeless veterans, it
> has been estimated that approximately 200,000 veterans may be homeless on
> any given night and twice as many veterans experience homelessness over
> the course of a year. It is estimated that one-third of the adult
> homeless male population and nearly one-quarter of all homeless adults
> have served in the armed forces.
>
> "We want to take the lead in providing health care and benefits for
> homeless veterans," said Pete Dougherty, who serves as VA's homeless
> coordinator. "Throughout my travels I have seen firsthand programs that
> are helping in a meaningful way to reconstruct veterans' lives and reunite
> families. It takes a network of partnerships to provide a full range of
> services."
>
> To combat veterans' homelessness, VA initiated the Grants and Per Diem
> Program in 1994, and since then has provided more than $171 million in
> grants and per diem payments. More than 180 organizations applied this
> year for VA's per diem funding.
>
> VA has the largest integrated network of homeless assistance programs in
> the country and is the only federal agency that provides substantial
> one-on-one contact with the homeless. In many cities and rural areas, VA
> social workers and other clinicians conduct extensive outreach programs,
> clinical assessments, medical treatment, alcohol and drug abuse counseling
> and employment assistance.
>
> For more information on VA's homeless programs see
> http://www.va.gov/homeless/. <http://www.va.gov/homeless/>
>