Program Serving 31,200 Veterans Across Country
Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report, VA and HUD Are Working to Improve Data on Supportive Housing Program.
The report address three objectives related to the HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program:
- How VA and HUD determine veteran eligibility for HUD-VASH,
- What data VA and HUD collect and report on HUD-VASH and their data reliability efforts, and
- What is known about HUD-VASH performance.
According to the GAO, as of March 2012, close to 31,200 veterans live in HUD-VASH supported housing, a utilization rate of 83% of authorized VASH vouchers. According to the report, the HUD-VASH program goal is a utilization rate of 88% of authorized vouchers. GAO notes that some states have already met or exceeded this goal, including the four states with the highest number of authorized vouchers: California, Florida, New York and Texas. GAO also found that VA and HUD are taking concrete steps to improve data reliability and reporting.
The appendices of the report include comments from HUD, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
“USICH concurs with the GAO’s assessment that the VASH program is vitally important to ending Veterans homelessness, and commends HUD and VA on their commitment to continued collaboration and coordination to improve an already effective program,” said USICH Executive Director Barbara Poppe.
The GAO report is available by clicking here.
Click here to read about the most recent VASH funding in NJ.
