Contact: (608) 266-2256, Kathy.Marschman@dva.wisconsin.
MADISON – The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) announced today that its programs for homeless Veterans located at King and Union Grove will remain open and are accepting new participants. The announcement comes as WDVA signed an agreement offered by USDVA to extend funding for the transitional housing programs.
“Helping Veterans regain mental and physical health, maintain steady employment, and find quality affordable permanent housing are the goals of our highly successful programs,” WDVA Secretary Dan Zimmerman said. “We are excited that USDVA will once again partner with us as we continue to meet these goals. I’d also like to thank all of Wisconsin’s elected representatives who advocated on behalf of Wisconsin’s Veterans.”
On August 16th, USDVA provided WDVA with unofficial notification of a one-year grant extension to continue operations under each program’s current approved structure. Today, the agreement was signed.
A new federal grant opportunity is also due for release as early as October 2017. It will outline new guidelines and rules for applying for a one-year grant (October 2017 – September 2018) with the possibility of a one-year extension.
WDVA plans to submit new grant applications for both King and Union Grove in close coordination with each program’s supporting USDVA medical center. And, as it did in its previous grant applications, WDVA will again pursue program models that best fit the needs of Veterans statewide, with a focus on underserved areas.
WDVA’s homeless programs have long been successful. USDVA inspects each program quarterly and annually, and each program has routinely met or exceeded individual program standards and, consequently, had been continually funded for over two decades. The average time it takes a Veteran to complete the program and gain permanent housing is about 10 months. In 2016 alone, WDVA’s transitional housing programs assisted 124 Veterans, to include many who began full time employment and moved into permanent housing. We are pleased to continue building on this success.
