Mitch Landrieu,
New Orleans
New Orleans became the first major city to end veteran homelessness this year.
In early 2014, officials identified 193 veterans living on the streets. After committing to move them into permanent homes, New Orleans had housed 227 vets by early January 2015, exceeding its initial goal.
“It’s important to understand an obvious truth: Our work of transitioning people, homeless veterans, to safe, warm, and permanent housing is never ever really done,” said Mayor Mitch Landrieu, announcing the milestone on Jan. 7. “A veteran can become homeless tomorrow. That’s why we went beyond housing just 193 and created a new sustainable rapid response outreach model that works and combines all of our available resources and engages local and active military.”
The city’s effort began in response to First Lady Michelle Obama’s Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness, which has been accepted by 355 mayors, seven governors, and 112 county and city officials.
To achieve its goal, New Orleans adopted an “all hands on deck” approach to ending veteran homelessness. “I’ll give you three key things,” Sam Joel, policy adviser to Landrieu and quarterback of the effort, told AHF. “Partnership. Partnership. Partnership.”
Numerous agencies and officials, including the mayor’s office, nonprofit Unity of Greater New Orleans, and the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System (SLVHCS) were involved. The key partners met on a weekly basis throughout 2014 to discuss individual veteran’s cases and identify housing opportunities.
After creating a master list of the homeless veterans, the next step was to assign veterans to “navigators” who could assess their needs and take responsibility for the paperwork necessary to get them into an appropriate housing program, according to a National Alliance to End Homelessness summary of the initiative.
Another important move was to engage local active military servicemen and women to help. “We knew that veterans who were on the streets, veterans who were homeless, would respond to their brothers and sisters who were serving active duty,” said Landrieu. “That turned out to be very, very powerful.”
A rapid re-housing grant was targeted to veterans. Other tools included the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs Supportive Services (HUD-VASH) program, which provides rental assistance from HUD and services from VA.
Landrieu’s office helped create a memorandum of
understanding between the Housing Authority of New Orleans, SLVHCS, and Unity
to set aside 200 Sec. 8 vouchers for veterans graduating from permanent
supportive housing programs. This allowed the HUD-VASH vouchers and other
permanent supportive housing resources to be freed up for chronically homeless
veterans.
