Nothern Arizona VA achieves veteran housing goal

The Northern Arizona VA Health Care System (NAVAHCS) in Prescott recently surpassed its fiscal year 2024 goal providing housing to 352 veterans experiencing homelessness.  

“We’re extremely proud of the work we do to ensure our veterans, and their families receive the help they need when they need it,” said Steve Sample, NAVAHCS’s medical center director.  

More than 94% of those veterans have not returned to homeless services since receiving housing, as of Aug. 31.  

“Accessibility and collaboration are key to accomplishing this mission, especially when it comes to sustainable housing solutions,” Sample said. “Fortunately, we have an incredible network of homeless veteran organizations throughout Northern Arizona who understand the complexity of veteran homelessness and work very well together to quickly meet each veteran’s individual needs.”  

This collaborative effort to get these homeless veterans and their families housed is referred to as a One Team approach by NAVAHCS’s Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program Coordinator Jessica Taylor, because it puts the veteran at the center of the work and limits duplicated service.  

“We know what each of our organizations can effectively provide who to turn to within the network that’s outside of our area of expertise,” Taylor said. “This system of Coordinated Entry means that a homeless veteran can walk through any of our programs’ doors and get help accessing all of the services within the entire network.”  

There were a number of different organizations that aided in housing the veterans including Nation’s Finest, Catholic Charities Community Services Inc., National Community Health Partners, U.S. VETS and Jerry Ambrose Veterans Council. 

“Achieving this goal means that not only did 352 homeless veterans in Northern Arizona get housing, but the veterans’ households, including their children, now have homes and stability as well,” Taylor said.  

Taking more of a national look, during the time period that NAVAHCS was able to house 352 veterans, the VA itself housed 43,116 veterans experiencing homelessness and 96.3% of the veterans have not returned to homelessness. This surpassed its fiscal year 2024 goal of 41,000 veterans.  

Between 2022 and 2023 the VA permanently housed nearly 87,000 veterans. Due to those efforts, the number of veterans experiencing homelessness in the U.S. has fallen by over 4% since early 2020 and by more than 52% since 2010.  

“No person who has served this country should ever have to experience homelessness,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “As a result of this year’s efforts, more than 43,000 formerly homeless veterans now have access to the homes that they deserve. And make no mistake: we won’t rest until every veteran has a safe, stable accessible and affordable home to call their own.”   

In August, the VA also awarded more than $800 million in grants through its Supportive Services for Veteran Families and Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem program. Then in July, it awarded $26 million in grants to support legal services for veterans facing homelessness. 

In the future NAVAHCS is expected to break ground on a project by the end of this calendar year that will repurpose six existing buildings on the southeast side of its campus. It will also be constructing a new three-story apartment building on the northeast side of the campus.  

The project — which was spearheaded by U.S. Vets and is funded by a combination of public and private dollars — in total will create 103 single-bedroom apartments to house homeless and low-income veterans. The project is expected to take about 12-18 months to complete.