Gov. Maura Healey introduced a $20 million marketing campaign Tuesday to finish veteran homelessness in Massachusetts, a transfer pitched as the most important focused funding to convey the variety of vets who shouldn’t have steady shelter to “functional zero.”
State officers are tapping federal {dollars} allotted throughout the pandemic to extend entry to behavioral well being companies; purchase, rehab, or assemble new inexpensive housing for veterans; shuttle {dollars} to service suppliers; and supply technical help on grant writing, strategic planning and operations.
A one-night survey performed in January 2023 discovered about 545 homeless veterans in Massachusetts dwelling in transitional housing, with about 30 thought-about utterly unsheltered, in line with Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago.
Ending veteran homelessness “is not only possible to solve, it’s the right thing to do,” he stated.
“We put forth a plan to get us to functional zero, effectively ending veterans homelessness in Massachusetts. You may be asking what is functional zero and when is it achieved? Functional zeros with veterans homelessness is a rare, brief and non-recurring episode. It’s where all homeless veterans have been identified, and housing opportunities for veterans have been made available in an integrated manner,” Santiago stated.
The veteran homelessness marketing campaign attracts funding from {dollars} allotted to Massachusetts by Congress within the American Rescue Plan Act, a 2021 proposal that was handed within the midst of the pandemic as states had been struggling to fund quite a lot of totally different packages.
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch stated federal lawmakers made the choice to depart it as much as states to resolve the way to spend the cash.
“I am just so grateful that when we sent the federal money back to the states through ARPA, that our governor, our mayor, our Legislature, had as a priority, a major priority the welfare of our veterans, not only to put a roof over their head, but the wraparound services that some veterans need,” he stated.
Santiago stated it was nonetheless unclear what number of housing models can be constructed or rehabilitated below the plan, although a number of requests for proposals “will be coming out in short order.”
“We’ll be committing at least $10 million to support those out there seeking to invest and build veteran housing. I should say this is an addition to the 200 plus units right now that we are working on in Chelsea,” Santiago stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”