LANSING, Mich. — On Tuesday, Lansing Mayor, Andy Schor, hosted a ceremony to announce an end to Veteran homelessness in the area.
He was joined by Dr. Joan Jackson Johnson, Lansing Director of Human Relations & Community Services, Kelly Rose, MSHDA, Tiyanna Payne, Battle Creek VA Medical Center Healthcare for Homeless Veterans, Sharon Dade, Holy Cross Services, and Brad Atchison, VoA-MI.
“This accomplishment is the result of three years of review by our community partners who directly serve veterans. Volunteers of America and Holy Cross Services, joined by the Battle Creek VA Medical Center Healthcare for Homeless Veterans along with local housing providers have successfully increased services coordination at the local level, where veterans reside,” stated Mayor Schor. “We owe it to our veterans to help them find a place to call home and are proud of this recognition.”
Schor announced that the Lansing, East Lansing and Ingham County Continuum of Care, the Capitol Region Housing Collaborative (CRHC), was recently recognized by the
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as “effectively ending” homelessness among veterans.
He added that the CRHC is the third Continuum of Care in Michigan to achieve this designation and the second municipality.
In 2014 President Obama put out a challenge called, the "Mayor's Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness," and the City of Lansing accepted it.
The next step was creating the Veteran Services Coordination Committee.
This group conducted intense interviews with housing services for Veterans. They identified service gaps, established a list of homeless Veterans by name, and began coordination of housing for them.
"Recent data shows a 50% reduction in homeless veterans in Ingham County, with those remaining engaged in proven programs that lead to housing."
The program continues to be successful with consistent outreach, engagement and support services backed by funds from from federal partners, the VA and HUD.
“The confirmation from USICH means our area has met the federal benchmarks and criteria for creating an effective end to veteran homelessness,” stated Dr. Joan Jackson Johnson, City of Lansing Human Relations & Community Services Director. “We know there are still homeless veterans in our area, but we now have the systems in place to quickly identify and house them, and to ensure their homelessness is rare, brief and non-recurring.”
All of the partners are hopeful that the Veteran’s Homeless Initiative will serve as an example to resolve homelessness for various other homeless populations, and ultimately resolving homelessness for everyone.
"It will take the same intensive focus on the part of federal and local partners, to establish effective strategies for other homeless groups,” stated Sharon Dade, Director of Social Services at Holy Cross Services. “But with our partners, the VA, HUD, the Supportive Services for Veteran Families, Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program and Clinical transitions programs, we are up for the challenge!”
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