Amarillo VA housed 72 homeless Veterans in 2022
PRESS RELEASE
January 31, 2023
Amarillo , TX — The Amarillo VA Health Care System permanently housed 72 homeless Veterans in the Amarillo and Lubbock communities during 2022, providing them with the safe, stable homes they deserve.
This success is a result of VA efforts to reach out to every Veteran experiencing homelessness, understand their unique needs, and address them. These efforts are grounded in the evidence based “Housing First” approach, which prioritizes getting a Veteran into housing, then provides the Veteran with the wraparound support they need to stay housed — including health care, job training, legal and education assistance and more.
“There are many formerly homeless Veterans who are going to sleep tonight in good, safe, stable homes,” Amarillo VA Housing First Coordinator Teena Hall said. “This is great progress, but it’s just the beginning. We have open vouchers and are ready and willing to help Veterans become housed. Our HUD/VASH team is ready, and we will not rest until the phrase ‘homeless Veteran’ is a thing of the past.”
Ending Veteran homelessness is a top priority of VA and the Biden-Harris Administration. Earlier this year, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness released All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, which set forth President Biden’s ambitious goal to reduce all homelessness by 25% by 2025.
Throughout 2022, Amarillo VA’s U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) staff helped Veterans find housing in apartments or houses. The HUD subsidy is used to make housing affordable.
For questions, call (806) 355-9703, press option 2, or follow VA updates on Facebook @VAAmarillo or Twitter @VA_Amarillo.