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Federal Funds Announced To Help Colorado Homeless Veterans

James Lee
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Flickr - Creative Commons

Federal funding totaling $60 million will provide permanent supportive housing for some 9,000 homeless veterans nationwide. That includes $1,085,107 to assist up to 180 homeless veterans in Colorado.

The funding was announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The supportive housing assistance is provided through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) which combines rental assistance from HUD with case management and clinical services provided by VA.

“With programs like HUD-VASH, we will end veteran homelessness by 2015 in Colorado one veteran at a time,” said Rocky Mountain Regional Administrator, Rick M. Garcia in a statement.

Colorado's $1,085,107 will be distributed to the following local public housing agencies:

  • Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver (Denver, CO) $251,018
  • Fort Collins Housing Authority (Fort Collins, C)) $188,698
  • Colorado Division of Housing (Denver, CO) $157,602
  • Colorado Division of Housing (Colorado Springs, CO) $157,602
  • Grand Junction Housing Authority (Grand Junction, CO) $108,048
  • Colorado Division of Housing (Durango, CO) $94,561
  • Boulder County Housing Authority (Boulder, CO) $65,912
  • Aurora Housing Authority (Aurora, CO) $61,665

HUD’s most recentannual estimate [.pdf] of the number of homeless persons and families nationwide found that veteran homelessness fell in 2012 by 7.2 percent or 4,876 people since 2011 and by 17.2 percent since 2009. On a single night in January 2012, 62,619 veterans were homeless nationally.

Credit U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Colorado's 2012 annual estimate

The funding announced Wednesday is part of $75 million appropriated this year to support the housing needs of homeless veterans.  Another round of HUD-VASH funding is expected this summer.

HUD-VASH is a critical part of the Obama administration’s commitment [.pdf] to end Veteran and long-term chronic homelessness by 2015.  

My journalism career started in college when I worked as a reporter and Weekend Edition host for WEKU-FM, an NPR member station in Richmond, KY. I graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a B.A. in broadcast journalism.
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