Brown Announces Funds to Provide Housing and Medical Assistance for Homeless Veterans in Stark and Summit Counties
Federal Funds Will Provide Rental Assistance and Medical Care to Homeless Veterans
WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 22, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown today announced funding to provide rental assistance and clinical services for homeless veterans in Stark and Summit Counties as a part of the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher program (HUD-VASH). The funds will provide housing assistance for homeless veterans while partnering them with a local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center.
“The men and women of the Armed Forces have been made a promise that if they defend our country, a grateful nation will provide them with services and benefits they have earned,” Brown, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said. “We must end veteran homelessness and this rental assistance for homeless veterans in Stark and Summit Counties is a down payment in the promise to support those who have already given so much to our nation.”
The HUD-VASH program in Stark and Summit Counties will work in partnership with Stark County to provide rental assistance and the Cleveland VA Medical Center and the Akron Community-Based Outreach Clinic to provide medical assistance. The grant provides $117,391 which will provide funds for rental assistance and medical care for 25 tenant-based vouchers.
Brown is the only Ohio Senator to serve a full term on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and is Co-Chair of the Senate Air Force Caucus. Brown has been working to reduce the VA claims backlog and recently introduced the Veterans Services Outreach Act. This legislation would require the VA to notify veterans filing claims electronically that they can receive help and important time-saving information that could significantly reduce their wait time. Brown will also work to pass the Claims Processing Improvement Act of 2013, legislation that would hold the VA accountable by requiring it to publically report information on both its projected monthly goals and actual production so that Congress and the public knows if the VA is working toward eliminating its backlog. The bill would also establish a task force to hire and train claims processors, and develop tactics to attack and eliminate the backlog.
