The state of Virginia and three cities have wiped out veterans homelessness, which is one of the key successes President Barack Obama will speak about Wednesday as the administration is still reeling from a scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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The initiative focuses on various aspects of health care, medicine, homelessness, economic opportunity and resources – all of which, the White House said, have improved under Obama’s leadership.
The cities that ended veteran homelessness were Las Vegas, and two NY cities, Syracuse and Schenectady.
VA Secretary Robert McDonald said last week that the end of the year was still the goal for ending veteran homelessness. “Right now, VA has seven different programs when it sends veterans into the community for care”. The VA and Veteran Service Organizations have created a pilot program – Fully Developed Appeals – to address this problem.
In honor of Veterans Day, the White House is announcing new measures to shield veterans from shoddy colleges and vocational schools.
On benefits, she noted that VA has transformed the way it provides benefits to vets.
In March 2013, with the backlog peaking and a political crisis in full bloom, the VA ordered more than 10,000 workers to put in at least 20 hours of overtime each month to work on the backlog and deal with new claims.
The president is renewing his call on Congress to reform the broken appeals process which the administration says “leaves veterans hanging – sometimes for years or even decades – waiting for a final decision on their appeal”.
The Obama administration is also set to unveil a new tool to allow veterans to compare college and university options, modeled after a college scorecard website it started in September to provide information to prospective students and their parents about annual costs, graduation rates and salaries after graduation.
The officials announced a variety of White House efforts they say reflects the president’s commitment to making veterans’ civilian lives as beneficial and important as their military existence.
The committee’s staff estimates that the VA’s spending on homelessness jumped from about $376 million in 2009 to about $1.5 billion previous year. But beginning in 2010, the federal government working with the states, local cities, philanthropic groups and more has made tremendous progress in reducing veteran homelessness.
The effort is spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.
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Munoz announced that all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico “are providing recently transitioning veterans and their dependents with in-state tuition rates at institutions of higher learning”.
