Governor's Plan to Make Virginia the "Most Veteran Friendly"

On June 22nd, 2011, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, Terri L. Suit announced Governor McDonnell’s plan to make Virginia the most Veteran friendly state in the nation. In the announcement, the Secretary put forth that addressing veterans’ homelessness is a key issue before her office.Currently, the office is examining available resources and programs that exist for homeless veterans at both the state and federal level. Recommendations for a more unified program will be made to the governor. We applaud this effort and hope that the both Governor McDonnell and Secretary Suit will take the additional steps necessary to prevent and end homelessness in the Commonwealth.

Across Virginia, communities are accepting that homelessness is solvable. 1,000 Homes for 1,000 Virginians is a statewide initiative - led by the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness - to house 1,000 of the most vulnerable Virginians experiencing homelessness. Participating communities will use the Vulnerability Index, a tool which captures data on health status, institutional history (jail, prison, hospitals, and military), length of homelessness, patterns of shelter use, and previous housing situations to prioritize the most vulnerable. Aggregated data from the national campaign as recent as May 2011 reflects that across 33 diverse communities, of those surveyed and determined to be the most vulnerable 18% are Veterans. For more information.