With just 35 housing vouchers available for homeless veterans living in Bremerton and central Kitsap County, officials at the Bremerton Housing Authority are working to try to secure more.
The housing vouchers are part of the VASH program, Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, said Sarah Van Cleve, housing director for the Bremerton Housing Authority.
The federal program is part of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development.
Bremerton Senior Housing Specialist Courtney Norwil said the vouchers are similar to the ones that are used for the general public, known as Section 8 vouchers.
They will pay from 60 to 70 percent of rental incomes to participating landlords to get homeless veterans off the streets. The housing authority pays about $16,000 a month in VASH housing payments.
“The description of homeless is generally someone who has been living in temporary housing and their time is up,” she said, “or someone who is at a homeless shelter or just living on the street.”
When she gets a referral of a homeless veteran, she contacts VASH representative Tony Sparber at the VA office in Retsil. The 35 vouchers that are allotted for this area are all being used, Norwil said.
To participate in the VASH program, veterans have to abide by the program regulations that include getting services from the VA. That can include medical and mental health services, counseling, vocational and job training and possibly substance abuse counseling.
Once a veteran is able to find other permanent housing, which the housing authority can help with, the VASH voucher is then “recycled” to help another homeless veteran find housing.
“We’ve done that at least three times in the last year,” said Van Cleve.
Van Cleve and Norwil are working to try to get more vouchers to serve veterans in this area.
The Fiscal Year 2014 U.S. budget as it is being proposed by President Obama includes $75 million in new vouchers for the HUD-VA VASH Program, bringing the total number of vouchers to more than 67,000 nationwide.
The Department of Veterans Affairs would provide $278 million in case management support for the program, a $33.581 million increase over Fiscal Year 2013.
“We know our homeless veteran count is much higher than 35,” Norwil said. “We’re working to try to be able to help as many homeless veterans as we can.”
The VA estimates that there are about 8,714 homeless veterans in Washington State.
The exact number of homeless veterans in Kitsap County isn’t known, but because of the amount of military in the area, it could be in the hundreds.
For more information about the VASH program, call Norwil at 360-616-7127. Sparber can be contacted at 360-536-7520.