John H. Kuhn

John Kuhn, LCSW, MPH is the Deputy Medical Center Director at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. As the Deputy Medical Center Director, Mr. Kuhn has been given responsibility for overseeing the Community Engagement and Reintegration Service (CERS), which cares for Veterans experiencing homelessness, and has oversight of the implementation of the West Los Angeles Campus Master Plan. 

Previously, he led the development and launch of the Supported Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program, VA’s homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing initiative. SSVF’s ground-breaking work on operationalizing evidence-based rapid re-housing and targeted homeless prevention helped VA cut homelessness among Veterans by half. SSVF launched shallow subsidies, an intermediate-term rental support, to bring more housing into affordability in high-cost markets. Using diversion/rapid exit strategies, known as Rapid Resolution, SSVF pioneered family reunification strategies helping Veterans connect with family and friends to find safe, affordable housing. SSVF was the first VA program that offered Veteran families child-care, provided assistance to families when the Veteran leaves the household, and offered additional aid to victims of domestic violence. SSVF led the development of SQUARES, an online tool allowing providers to determine the eligibility of Veterans and instantly enroll them. SSVF played a central role in providing aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, issuing one of the first federal policies on March 13, 2020 that led to emergency hotel/motels placements for 40,000 homeless Veterans. SSVF also began health care navigation services and expanded legal assistance to address some of the barriers faced by homeless and at-risk Veterans during this health emergency. For more information about SSVF initiatives, go to https://www.va.gov/homeless/ssvf/ssvf-initiatives. Mr. Kuhn’s data-driven innovations earned the program significant support from Congress where under his leadership, SSVF’s budget increased from $60 million in FY 2012 to $750 million in FY 2023.

Earlier in Mr. Kuhn’s career he led the development of one of the first Veteran-specific housing projects in the nation, a 150-unit building at Commonwealth Ave in the Bronx (1992). Later, running homeless services in New Jersey, Mr. Kuhn launched a public-private partnership known as MAVERIC that started Veteran managed and staffed businesses that included a golf driving range, a construction business (which created new housing for Veterans), catering services, a thrift store, and a greenhouse. 

Mr. Kuhn has received local and national recognition for this work including the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans’ Federal Partnership Award, Mutual of America’s Community Partnership Medal, The NJ Hospital Association’s Health, Research and Education Trust's Hospital Award for Community Outreach, acknowledgement by the former Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee who had the Flag of The United States flown over the Capitol in his honor, co-winner of VA’s Robert L. Jesse Award for Excellence in Innovation, and twice receiving the Federal Executive Board’s Supervisor of the Year. Mr. Kuhn has a BA from Brown University, a MSW from Columbia University and an MPH from Rutgers University. He has been working with the homeless for over 30 years.