VA rule could leave some homeless veterans out in the cold

WASHINGTON – Some homeless veterans could soon be turned away from a program that provides them with temporary shelter.

The Department of Veterans Affairs expects to decide this month whether to start denying temporary housing to veterans who received a less than honorable discharge or served fewer than two continuous years in the military.

Nearly 15 percent of veterans now living in units for the Spokane VA transitional housing program would not meet those criteria, said Lily Haken, coordinator of the Health Care for Homeless Veterans program. Of the 164 veterans provided housing by the Spokane program in the latest fiscal year, about 25 would have been ineligible under the new policy.

This policy change would have a “devastating impact,” Haken said.

The VA funnels federal money to three Spokane housing providers that serve veterans while helping them secure a permanent home.

The VA told those organizations in February 2014 to turn away veterans who didn’t meet the new requirements, based on a memo that said the agency was misinterpreting eligibility standards set by Congress. Because these veterans with less than two years of service or an honorable discharge are ineligible for VA health care, they are ineligible for its housing, the agency’s lawyers determined.

The policy was enforced for about a month, though nobody already in the housing program was forced out, said Jeffery Quarles, national director of the VA Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program.

VA officials retracted the new policy after coming under criticism from veterans advocacy groups and some members of Congress, and vowed further legal review. “The memo was rescinded, and we went back to what we had been doing,” Quarles said. No records are available of how many were turned away, he added.

The Spokane VA program never turned a veteran away because of the policy change, Haken said. “Sometimes it takes a couple weeks to have an opening,” she said.

A final decision on veteran eligibility for housing is expected by the end of this month, an agency report said. A law might be necessary to change eligibility rules, officials said.

To prevent any change in eligibility, this month the Senate passed a bill written by Washington Sen. Patty Murray making veterans with less than honorable discharges or who served less than two years eligible for homeless benefits. It’s awaiting action in the House.

Lawmakers should pass the bill before a new VA policy takes effect, Murray told colleagues in calling for the vote on her bill. It is unacceptable to deny help to veterans, no matter the details of their service, she added.

“Even one veteran sleeping on the streets in the United States is one too many,” she said. “My bill makes it clear that our country takes care of those who have served.”

More than 23,000 veterans entered VA temporary housing last fiscal year, Quarles said. Advocacy groups, such as the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, say this policy would force the VA to stop serving 15 percent of the homeless veteran population or thousands nationwide.

There are open spots in these temporary shelters nationwide. But the Spokane VA program, which began in 2006 and has grown to 69 beds, is consistently full, Haken said. Participants stay for as little as a few weeks but sometimes up to about two years.

“We have had veterans on a regular basis who are ineligible for our other housing programs,” she said. “If we didn’t have those options for them, we would have to refer them out into the community where there are very limited resources.”

There are about 10 veterans currently in the Spokane program who wouldn’t meet the stiffer requirements, but even if the policy is adopted, they wouldn’t be kicked out, she said.