Challenge
In November 2009, President Barack Obama and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary, Eric K. Shinseki, unveiled a plan to end homelessness among Veterans. VA works with a multitude of federal and non-federal partners to manage a complex array of stakeholder relationships, management infrastructure, benefits, services, and investments. As VA moves closer to their goal of ending Veteran homelessness, it is clear that homeless Veterans and their families benefit from the improved collaboration of federal, state, and community-based agencies. It is from this platform that VA and the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans have focused on the needs of the twenty-five U.S. cities with the highest per capita homeless Veteran populations and on an intensive, data-driven, and community-focused strategy to end and prevent homelessness among America’s Veterans.
Solution
Atlas Research assembled an integrated team of nationally-recognized expert organizations, Community Solutions (CS) and Rapid Results Institute (RRI), to work with homeless Veterans programs at local, state, and federal levels and monitor efforts to end homelessness among America’s Veterans within the 25 identified cities. The Atlas Team is providing the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans with technical assistance services, including the provision of community launch events, structured follow-along support, and data usage solutions for regularly reporting on and facilitating the housing of homeless Veterans in 25 targeted cities. The Atlas Team’s work focuses on assisting communities in the development of coordinated entry systems to prioritize the housing needs and other much-needed services by homeless Veterans as well as on reporting progress to the National Center via weekly, monthly, and annual meetings and progress reports.
Result
Effective coordination is key to a community’s success and the 25 Cities Team is helping communities to coordinate in the following ways: assist communities develop and maintain their coordinated entry systems; assist communities accelerate housing placement rates through more efficient coordination of VA and community resources and information; help communities coordinate, create, and maintain their by-name lists including calculating inflow and tracking housing placements; facilitate and coordinate community partnerships to ensure that all key players are engaged; promote and coordinate effective landlord outreach and partnerships; help communities measure and track their progress and identify needed resources; and finally, ensure that communities have systems in place to sustain gains made and continue forward momentum after the 25 Cities effort ends. Through this initiative, the Atlas Team will help each community to create individualized strategies to help end and prevent homelessness among America’s Veterans.