FAYETTEVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas is on pace to effectively end veteran homelessness by the end of the year, according to advocates working behind the scenes.
There are 30 homeless veterans in Northwest Arkansas, according to a list maintained by the regional Continuum of Care. The continuum is a collective of organizations that specialize in case management, programs and services for the homeless.
Continuum members manage a list of people who need help, and members hold regular conference calls to work each case individually. There were 486 names on the list as of Nov. 1.
The team taking on veteran homelessness includes representatives of 7 Hills Homeless Center, the Salvation Army, St. Francis House, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Hark at the Center for Collaborative Care.
Continuum members track the number of people experiencing homelessness by keeping a list of those who receive assistance from any of the member agencies, said Steve Burt, Continuum of Care executive director.
"We know who they are. We have what their needs are, and we're building system capacity to serve them," he said. "We talk about every one of those 30 individuals every week in a communitywide, multidisciplinary team made up of all of those agencies that serve veterans."
Ten of the 30 veterans have housing vouchers and are apartment searching, Burt said.
Five are considered chronically homeless, meaning they have been unsheltered for at least a year or three or more times over the past three years. They often have some type of disabling condition, he said.
The continuum set a goal in spring 2018 to functionally end veteran homelessness by the end of this year. The term functional zero means homelessness is rare, brief and not recurring.
Burt said he is confident the member organizations will meet the goal. Every veteran may not hold a key to a residence by the end of the year, but they all will have a clear plan to get there, he said.
"Our confidence is based on how far we've come," Burt said. "If we make a final push, certainly the community can come together and help."
The number of veterans experiencing homelessness in Washington, Benton, Carroll and Madison counties was 81 a year ago, Burt said.
Not baloney
Jason Harned, 50, was one of those veterans. He said his experience with continuum member organizations has reestablished his trust in the veteran care system.
Harned was born in Fayetteville and grew up in Mountain Home. He joined the Navy two years after high school, eventually stationed in the San Francisco Bay area.
That was when the 6.9-magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake rattled California, killing 63 and injuring more than 3,700 people. Harned said he witnessed the carnage.
The experience had a lasting effect on him, Harned said. He became an alcoholic. His time in the Navy lasted just more than two years. Harned later was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.
Harned eventually became a welder by trade, living in Florida, Texas and Louisiana before returning to Mountain Home. He had a steady job building fiberglass boats, but the wear and tear on his body took its toll. He had reconstructive surgery on his knee in 2015, and found he could no longer do the job. Two years later, the rental home where he had been living with his wife and young son sold, Harned said.
"I had never been homeless," he said. "It would've been OK, maybe, if I didn't have a wife and a 7-year-old, you know? Kids, they don't understand that. They don't need to understand that."
Harned went to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Fayetteville and got in contact with 7 Hills. He got an apartment and a job within a few months, and the wife and son, who had been staying with family, moved to Fayetteville.
However, the landlord wouldn't renew the lease after a year, and the family found themselves on the outs again. A caseworker helped them find a small apartment, and Harned enlisted in a work program.
He got a full-time job this year maintaining the floors at the Veterans Affairs hospital. The family now rents a house in south Fayetteville. They have a car.
The people who helped support Harned and his family stuck with them. It was a stark contrast to the veterans services Harned said he experienced in other places.
"I want the people who I interact with to be at home thinking about me. That's important to me," he said. "If they don't, they're just a piece of baloney on a sandwich."
On the right path
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates about 37,800 veterans are experiencing homelessness, based on last year's point in time count. The count is an annual, nationwide assessment of the homeless population taken in a 24-hour period in January. The numbers have dropped dramatically since 2010, when there were an estimated 74,000 homeless veterans.
Increased federal funding over the past decade or so has made an impact, said Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans in Washington. The extra money has bolstered communities in their efforts, she said.
About 80 cities and counties have effectively ended veteran homelessness, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.
"The list is growing," Monet said. "Communities are continuing to work toward achieving the federal benchmarks and criteria, and we look forward to seeing more communities accomplish this goal."
Veterans often have untreated traumas, and ones in Northwest Arkansas are no different, said Sherry Braslavsky, the coordinated entry specialist at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Fayetteville. They tend to develop unhealthy coping skills, such as substance abuse, she said.
Like other people who experience homelessness, veterans can lose their jobs and their family relationships can break down, Braslavsky said. The resources are out there, she said. It's a matter of getting veterans who need help to the services they need, she said.
The department has 125 housing vouchers issued to veterans, primarily through the Fayetteville Housing Authority, Braslavsky said. The vouchers pay for a percentage of housing costs. Each one is different depending on the number of family members, total income and medical and utility costs, she said.
More landlords who will accept the vouchers are always needed, Braslavsky said.
"No veteran should be homeless," she said. "They served our country, and we should provide services back to them."
NW News on 11/11/2019