Van Hollen, Cardin Announce over $90,000 for Baltimore County Veterans’ Housing
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) have announced $91,415 in federal funding to the Baltimore County Office of Housing through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program. HUD-VASH is a collaborative program that combines HUD housing vouchers with VA supportive services to help veterans and their families who are homeless find and sustain permanent housing. This is one of ten grants being announced for Maryland, totaling over $1 million dollars in HUD-VASH funding.
“Our nation’s veterans have sacrificed for our country, and yet many struggle with homelessness. Tackling this problem is a top priority,” said Senator Van Hollen, a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committees. “This funding will help ensure that our veterans have a place to call home.”
“No one who fought for our nation on the battlefield should ever have to fight for a roof over their head,” said Senator Cardin, a member of the Senate Finance Committee. “We have an obligation to support our men and women in uniform on the home front just as they have supported us around the world. This funding will help us fulfill that obligation. I’m proud to represent a state that so many of our bravest call home, and I’ll keep fighting every day to ensure they receive the resources they have earned and deserve.”
Through public housing authorities, HUD provides rental assistance vouchers for privately-owned housing to veterans who are eligible for VA health care services and are experiencing homelessness. VA case managers may connect these veterans with support services such as health care, mental health treatment and substance abuse counseling to help them in their recovery process and with their ability to maintain housing in the community. Among VA homeless continuum of care programs, HUD-VASH enrolls the largest number and largest percentage of veterans who have experienced long-term or repeated homelessness. More than 87,000 vouchers have been awarded and approximately 144,000 homeless veterans have been served through the HUD-VASH program since 2008.
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