Update On the Work to End Veteran Homelessness in Washtenaw County

By Elise Ellsworth, WHA’s Veteran System Improvement Coordinator

The past summer months included lots of data review and planning for the Veterans community. Specifically, the community took a closer look at the reasons for Veteran homelessness in Washtenaw County. From this came a push to increase promotion of Prevention and Diversion resources for Veterans who may be at risk of homelessness. The community also created process maps for both the HUD VASH (Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing) and Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) programs. This is an important tool for continued review or program efficiency. Partners were able to identify the steps to receive these resources and obtain housing, how long each step takes on average, and what opportunities there may be to speed up the process for clients.

In July and August, many clients who recently received HUD VASH vouchers moved into housing. Like with Housing Choice Vouchers, Veterans with HUD VASH vouchers pay 30% of their income toward their housing, with the rest paid for by the voucher. Unique to this program, however, are the supportive services and medical case management offered to clients by Veterans Affairs case managers. These case managers support the Veterans in accessing the resources they need to remain stably housed. In total, 15 veterans were housed in the months of July and August! In September, we saw an additional four Veterans housed, and the average length of time from identification of homelessness to housing for these Veterans was 30 days! Special thanks to all the case workers for working so hard to limit the amount of time that these Veterans were homeless.

This line and bar graph show the data details related to Veterans experiencing homelessness in Washtenaw County. The line graph at the top shows how many Veterans are active on the community’s By-Name-List every month since September 2024. The blue bars below show the number of Veterans entering the county’s system of care per month; the red shows how many are exiting to permanent housing each month; and the yellow is the number of Veterans no longer active on the community’s By-Name-List.

This Fall, we are welcoming a new partner to the Washtenaw County Veterans space: Disability Network of Eastern Michigan (DNEM)! DNEM serves people with disabilities as well as Veterans in the Thumb of Michigan and other counties on the east side of the state. This year, they are entering Washtenaw County with an expansion of their SSVF program. The existing Veteran case managers from our partner agencies in Washtenaw County requested a meeting with DNEM staff where they shared the local resources to assist DNEM in hitting the ground running.

We want to send a big Thank You to Michigan Ability Partners (MAP), the previous SSVF provider for Washtenaw County, for their work in housing so many Veterans over the last 11 years, and for the support they have lent to DNEM regarding landlords and community resources. MAP still operates the Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program (HVRP) that supports Veterans in increasing their employability and obtaining employment training and opportunities along with their other services for individuals with disabilities.

We are so thankful to be part of a collaborative team of partners that are committed to working together to provide the best service to Veterans experiencing homelessness in Washtenaw County.