As followers of this blog know, one month ago, we launched our Veterans Challenge. As we shared then, during our last annual homeless count, we found 100 more homeless veterans than we did last year. So, we are challenging ourselves to house 100 veterans in 100 days.
So, one month in, how are we doing? (Drum roll.) The smoke has cleared, the numbers have been tallied, and we are excited to share that we and our partners housed 33 veterans in the month of May! That means that we are not only on track to hit our goal of 100, but likely to surpass it.
Quality Hotel 33 near Økern, in Norway. It has nothing to do with this blog post, aside from the number…
How do we know? Just in May, we, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) held a few different events through which DHA was able to issue 84(!) housing vouchers, through the HUD-VASH program, a wildly successful partnership between the VA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Now, in June, we will be holding one or more events to match those voucher holders with able and willing landlords, who can house them. Beyond that, not all veterans are eligible for HUD-VASH vouchers, so we will be using different tools to help those folks out too. We plan to make that number 33 look small in comparison to what we do in June.
Remember, our friends at the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition ran a veterans challenge recently, with the same goal, 100 veterans in 100 days, and they housed 181 veterans! Are you really going to stand for Fort Worth beating you, Dallas?! The clock is ticking, so we are back to work!
