“I’m pleased that five additional HUD-VASH vouchers have been awarded to the Calvert County Housing Authority to help provide permanent housing to veterans in Southern Maryland’s tri-county region,” Congressman Hoyer said. “These vouchers are provided based on results from the annual Point-in-Time survey, a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals, which I am proud to support each year in Southern Maryland. It is important that we do everything we can to ensure that our brave veterans and their families are off of the streets and in a place they can call home. I will continue to work in Congress to push for measures that help get veterans the resources they need as they transition back home and into civilian life.”

Southern Maryland has received a total of 35 vouchers since December 2014. In addition to providing housing assistance, the HUD-VASH program provides veterans with case management and clinical services through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program combines Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance for homeless veterans with case management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.  VA provides these services for participating veterans at VA medical centers and community-based outreach clinics.

Every year since 2008, HUD and VA have awarded HUD-VASH vouchers based on geographic need and public housing agency administrative performance. The allocation process for HUD-VASH vouchers is a collaborative approach that relies on three sets of data: HUD’s point-in-time data submitted by Continuums of Care, VAMC data on the number of contacts with homeless veterans, and performance data from PHAs and VAMCs.  After determining which areas of the country have the highest number of homeless veterans, the VA Central Office identifies VA facilities in the corresponding communities. HUD then selects PHAs near to the identified VA facilities, taking into consideration the PHAs’ administrative performance, and sends the PHAs invitations to apply for the vouchers.

There is at least one site in each of the 50 states, in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

For more information about House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer, visit his Leader member page.