With $600 Million Available, Cohen Urges Memphis Veterans Groups to Apply for Federal Funding

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Following the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) making available as much as $600 million in funding to help local organizations combat veteran homelessness, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today urged Ninth District-based veteran service groups to apply for federal support so that they can better serve more Memphis-area veterans. The funding will be available through the VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program, which supports efforts to prevent at-risk veterans from becoming homeless and rapidly re-house those who have recently fallen into homelessness.

“Our nation’s veterans are heroes who risked their lives for our safety and security,” said Congressman Cohen. “No one who puts his or her life on the line for our freedom should go without a roof over their head. This newly-announced federal funding can help Memphis-based organizations provide assistive services to even more of our veterans. Our veterans service organizations should do all that they can to win these grants and better serve those who have sacrificed for us.”

In an effort to help the VA fully understand the needs of the Memphis veteran community, Congressman Cohen last week invited Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki to visit Memphis in the coming months. A visit by Secretary Shinseki would also serve to reassure the nearly 200,000 veterans served by the VA Medical Center in Memphis that the Department takes recently-raised safety concerns seriously and is working to address them.

The SSVF program is designed to assist very-low income veteran families who are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. The program employs a housing first model that centers on providing homeless veterans with permanent hosing quickly and following up with VA health care, benefits and services as needed.

To be eligible for this funding, veteran service organizations must provide a number of required services to area veterans. More information about these requirements and the SSVF program is available here.