Cohen Announces More Than $82,000 to Help Reduce Veteran Homelessness in Memphis

MEMPHIS, TN – August 22, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today announced that the Memphis Housing Authority has been awarded $82,732 in grant funding to provide rental assistance to homeless veterans. This funding comes through the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program.

“It is a tragedy that so many of our veterans in Memphis and throughout the country are homeless,” said Congressman Cohen. “These grants are just one way we can give back to the veterans who gave so much for us.”

As a critical part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to end veteran and long-term chronic homelessness in 2015, the HUD-VASH Program combines rental assistance from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with case management and clinical services provided by VA. Since 2008, the program has awarded more than 48,000 rental assistance and vouchers helped place more than 42,500 formerly homeless veterans in homes. HUD’s annual “point in time” estimate of the number of homeless persons and families for 2012 found that Veteran homelessness fell by 7.2 percent (or 4,876 people) since January 2011 and by 17.2 percent since January 2009.