Riverside County has become the nation’s first large county to meet “functional zero,” a federal benchmark for making permanent housing available for all homeless veterans who seek assistance from the county.
The board of supervisors established the Veteran Assistance Leadership of Riverside County (VALOR) initiative in June 2013 to find permanent housing for every homeless veteran in Riverside County. Together, the Housing Authority division of the county Economic Development Agency, the Department of Public Social Services, Riverside University Health System, Sheriff’s Department, Probation Department, and Veterans’ Services partnered with housing providers, cities, law enforcement agencies and community agencies toward the goal of helping all homeless veterans get off the streets.
Since VALOR’s inception, more than 1,100 homeless veterans have been placed into permanent housing, including 582 veterans housed since January 2015, when Riverside County launched the federal Zero 2016 initiative.
Reaching the federal benchmark of “functional zero” requires a well-coordinated and efficient system that ensures homelessness is rare, brief and non-recurring and that all veterans have access to the resources they need to move quickly to permanent housing. Although some individual veterans and their families still will become homeless or return to homelessness, a housing-crisis response system is in place to quickly identify and link them immediately with resources to help them maintain permanent housing.
“‘Functional zero’ means the county has the resources and response systems in place to ensure any veteran who is homeless or is at risk of becoming homeless will get timely help and support,” said Lynne Brockmeier, manager of Riverside University Health System, Behavioral Health Housing Crisis Response Team. “We have achieved this milestone and we plan to file for that official federal recognition later this month.”
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