WASHINGTON – The Providence Housing Authority will receive $266,713 in federal funds to help secure permanent supportive housing for 35 homeless veterans, U.S. Senator Jack Reed this week announced.
At least 175 veterans in the state were homeless during 2005 and 2006, according to data compiled by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
That amounts to about 10 percent of the state’s total homeless population, giving Rhode Island one of the highest percentages of homeless veterans nationwide, according to Reed’s office. And in 2005, 2,830 Rhode Island veterans were paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent, putting them at “higher risk for homelessness,” the office said.
“No family, no vet returning from Iraq, no mentally ill person should have to fall into homelessness in order to get help,” Reed said in a statement Monday. “Only by working in cross-sector alliances are we going to address the root causes of homelessness – a shortage of affordable housing, insufficient income and inadequate social services – and develop realistic, practical and community-based solutions.”
The Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing Program funds will be administered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The Providence Housing Authority has more than 5,700 tenants in 13 public housing complexes across the city. For more information, visit www.pha-providence.com.
