San Diego CA— Building upon many years of successful partnership, Veteran’s Village of San Diego (VVSD) and Father Joe’s Village are pleased to announce that they are joining forces once more in an expanded effort to support homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing services for veterans and veteran families. Funded through a recent Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) grant, the new program will make available $1 million annually over the next three years ($3 million total) and represents a critical resource for the San Diego region toward the federal goal of eradicating veteran homelessness nationwide by 2015.
“So often when we think of San Diego as a military town, we think of the active duty services members who call San Diego home,” said Diane Stumph, CEO of Father Joe’s Village. “We can’t forget, though, that San Diego is home to the 3rd largest population of homeless veterans. At Father Joe’s, our goal is to end homelessness throughout San Diego and our work with Veterans Village of San Diego is a chance to join forces in order to continue to serve those who have served our country.”
Father Joe’s Village serves the needs of homeless and working poor veterans through a variety of programs and partnerships, including working closely with the Veterans Administration Homeless Outreach efforts, serving as a site for the Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (HPACT) efforts and working with veteran specific grant and per diem programs. On any given night, at least 100 veterans are sleeping safely in a Village bed as they work toward getting their own home.
With five locations throughout San Diego County, Veterans Village of San Diego has served veterans since 1981 and is dedicated to “Leave No One Behind.” VVSD is the only program of its kind in the United States and is nationally recognized as a leader in serving homeless military veterans. Each year VVSD provides services to more than 2,000 military veterans throughout the County of San Diego.
HOMELESS VETERANS FACTS:
- According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, in January 2013, just three states – California, Florida, and New York – accounted for 44% of all homeless veterans across the country.
- The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that 57,849 homeless veterans sleep on the streets in America each night.
- 144,842 veterans use homeless housing programs each year.
- The number of homeless female veterans rose more than 140 percent from 2006 to 2010.
- San Diego has the 4th largest homeless population in the nation and the third largest homeless veteran population in the nation.
A picnic celebrating veteran clients of both agencies will be jointly hosted by Father Joe’s Village and Veterans Village of San Diego and will take place at Father Joe’s on Thursday, November 13.
For more information on these and other services and programs, visit www.neighbor.org or see our infographic on whom we help.