Street roots., May 26, 2017, Page 5, Image 5

Street Roots • May 26-June 1, 2017
VETERANS, from page 4
government for the rest of 2017.
The impact of rental increases on
vouchers is playing itself out in the Portland
area - already, Home Forward has had to
use some of its reserve funding to pay for its
existing vouchers. “W ere in a difficult
situation in that we need increased funding
to keep pace with the market,” Buonocore
said. “Reduced funding is (an even worse)
situation.”
Home Forward also decided in April to
not draw names from the waiting list for
Section 8 vouchers at all this year, meaning
that nearly 3,000 Portland-area families
hoping to receive a voucher must wait at
least another calendar year.
If funding for VASH and Section 8
vouchers are cut, Buonocore estimates that
Home Forward could continue paying for its
existing vouchers for another year. After
that, he said, “we would have to start
planning for a following year and work with
the community about how we absorb those
cuts.”
Weinstock worries more for other
populations of low-income people who rely
upon H U D funding, such as low-income
seniors, people with disabilities and people
who are poor simply because they have
minimum wage jobs.
“If the federal government reduces the
amount of money flowing into Section 8
program, that will basically increase
homelessness,” he said.
And even if funding for VASH vouchers
remains flat, it’s possible that homelessness
among veterans would increase once again.
uch of the success of Portland’s effort
to end veteran homelessness was due
to a massive influx of federal funding
starting in 2015.
Transition Projects, Inc., one of Portland’s
largest homeless service agencies, received
two grants from the VA’s Supportive
Services for Veteran Families (SSVF)
program in 2015, totaling $7.3 million
dollars. The SSV F program pays for
supportive services such as rental
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assistance, outreach, case management and
helping veterans apply for benefits through
the VA and the Social Security
Administration.
The number of VASH vouchers also
dramatically increased from 70 vouchers in
2009 to 591 vouchers that are currently
being used. In addition, Home Forward
dedicates 50 vouchers to veterans ineligible
for VASH vouchers. Veterans are also given
priority when affordable housing units
operated by Home Forward became
available.
The city and county spent an additional
$1.3 million dollars on homeless veterans
services each year in 2016 and 2017.
Altogether, the funding paid for a wide
range of services that made rapidly housing
homeless veterans possible. The money paid
for hiring 29 people who work as case
managers, screeners, attorneys, job and
benefits specialists who worked directly with
veterans.
Also, $1.6 million was used to provide
rental assistance, which subsidizes the
amount of rent a person pays until their
income rises, to 450 households. A 25-bed
shelter for homeless veterans opened last
year, and a 50-unit studio apartment building
that opened in July 2016 is also master-
leased by agencies to be used by program
clients.
The funds also created a Landlord
Recruitment & Retention Team, which
works with landlords who prioritize renting
to veterans. Among other things, the team
negotiates lowering rents, eliminating
screening criteria and reducing security
deposits.
A pool of flexible funding was also created
to help people pay for security deposits,
application fees, past due utility bills from
prior housing, or transportation to meet
with landlords or property managers, if
necessary-which all can be barriers to
quickly moving someone into housing.
Both VA grants expire this summer. Alex
Glover, T P I’s housing services director, said
that TPI has already reapplied for both of
them, saying that “we are well-positioned to
be refunded.”
Page 5
According to data kept by TPI, there are
fewer veterans becoming homeless than
those moving into permanent housing.
Glover said TPI and the other agencies
involved in veteran’s homelessness would
begin shifting the funding’s focus to
preventing veterans from becoming
homeless.
“There’s not too much being done to
prevent homelessness at this point,” Glover
said. “We still see a constant need for
re-housing of homeless veterans and
prevention services for homeless veterans.”
Auxiliary services are also facing
elimination, which will only aggravate
options for veterans in need of services.
Among them is the Legal Services
Corporation, which is slated for defunding
under Trump’s budget. That would mean a
cut of $4.5 million in legal services for low-
income Oregonians, including legal aid to
secure housing for nearly 400 veterans
statewide. That’s according to a budget
assessment released by Democrat
representatives on the House
Appropriations Committee.
Glover said that TPI and other services
have already started planning what to do in
the case the funding is not renewed,
including identifying more households most
vulnerable to reentering homelessness and
cutting staff positions.
He said that no one would immediately
become homeless if funding were cut. “As
far as what’s been communicated from the
VA, if the projects aren’t renewed, there will
be some scaling down over time,” Glover
said. “(And) there are other programs ... we
could leverage.”
It would be hard to sustain over time,
however. “If this funding is not renewed,
veterans are going to spend a lot more time
on the streets or in shelters before finding
housing,” Glover said.
allunki doubts that he would have been
able to move into his apartment so
quickly without the robust amount of
services available to him.
“I had a lot of worries about running into
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road blocks,” he said, including turning him
down for housing because of his credit and
rental history, which Kallunki describes as
“solid,” but not perfect.
When he applied for his apartment, he
saw that the application required that his
wages be two and a half times more than
the rent, among other things. Kallunki, who
is now on Social Security disability, receives
$1,070 a month in addition to a veteran’s
pension.
“The criteria was overwhelming me,” he
said. He thought that he wouldn’t get into
the apartment.
His case manager met with the landlord
in person, which smoothed the way for
Kallunki’s application. “For people who are
on disability or Social Security, it’s darn
near impossible to get housing now without
some kind of voucher or family help or help
from the state,” he said.
When describing the administration’s
budget priorities, various members of the
Trump administration have said that local
government must assume responsibility for
some programs currently funded by the
federal government.
According to a blueprint for the
administration’s 2018 budget released
earlier this year, publicly-subsidized housing
is no different. “State and local governments
are better positioned to serve their
communities based on local needs and
priorities,” the budget document stated.
Deborah Kafoury, the chair of Multnomah
County Board of Commissioners, said it is
impossible for the county to completely
absorb the cuts currently proposed. “People
are in housing now because of the federal
funds. The federal funding was crucial.
“We don’t have the funds to not only
continue the work that we’re already doing
and bail out the federal government from
it’s obligation,” she continued. “I don’t know
why the federal government would want to
cut something that’s been so successful.”
Buonocore agreed. “It is of a scale that is
bigger than local governments can solve by
themselves” - something that could be said
of any anti-poverty or low-income program.
Armed Forces
and are experiencing
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or at
risk of
becoming
Transition
Projects
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