HUD-VASH
Vash Team
From left: Corrina Bacon, Sue Peacoe, Maria Chamberlain, Jorge Vigoa and Ladawn Gibson
The HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program combines Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) rental assistance for
homeless Veterans with case management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA
provides these services for participating Veterans at VA medical centers (VAMCs) and community-based outreach clinics.
Generally, the HUD-VASH program is administered in accordance with regular HCV program requirements
(
24 CFR Section 982).
However, the 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Public Law 110-161) allows HUD to waive or specify alternative requirements
for any provision of any statute or regulation affecting the HCV program in order to effectively deliver and administer
HUD-VASH voucher assistance. The alternative requirements are established in the HUD-VASH Operating Requirements
(including the waivers and alternative requirements from HCV program rules), which were published in the Federal Register on
May 6, 2008.
See HUDs website.
HUD VASH vouchers are rental vouchers used specifically for homeless veterans. Currently
the Tampa Housing Authority has received 724 VASH vouchers since 2008. Families are determined eligible through the
Department of Veterans Affairs and sent as a referral to the Tampa Housing Authority for rental assistance. The VA is
responsible to determine the eligibility of the veterans and the THA is responsible to determine income eligibility as well
as ensure family is not a registered sexual offender. The family is required to receive case management from the VA until the
VA determines it is no longer necessary. Families who do not comply with case management service will be terminated from the
HUD-VASH program.
If you are a homeless veteran, please contact The James A. Haley Medical Center of The Department
of Veterans Affairs located at 13000 Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, Tampa FL 813 972-2000.
https://www.tampa.va.gov/If you have further questions
regarding the HUD VASH Voucher, please contact Sue Peacoe, Special Programs Coordinator at
sue.peacoe@thafl.com.
Needed: Qualifying Units for Veterans
The Housing Authority of the City of Tampa (THA) has been awarded 205 HUDVASH vouchers which are
targeted for veterans who are homeless and chronically homeless. This makes a total of 645 allotted
HUDVASH vouchers since 2008. The HUDVASH program operates in the same manner as the Housing Choice
Voucher program except that families are referred from the Veterans Administration to the Tampa Housing
Authority to receive a voucher for housing. The family will pay a portion of rent based on his or her
income and THA in essence will pay the difference as long as the rent is considered reasonable.
THA is looking for owners who are willing to rent to the chronic and non-chronic homeless veteran
population. Under the Department of Housing and Urban Development's definition, a chronically homeless
individual is someone who has experienced homelessness for a year or longer, or who has experienced at
least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years and has a disability. A family with an
adult member who meets this description would also be considered chronically homeless. Chronically
homeless people are among the most vulnerable people in the homeless population. This particular
population may have behavioral health problems, including severe mental illness and substance abuse
disorders, conditions that may be exacerbated by physical illness, injury or trauma. Consequently,
they are frequent users of emergency services, crisis response, and public safety systems. These
individuals if not provided permanent supportive housing may die on the streets.
Often time these individuals may not pass the normal or standard tenancy screening criteria and are
often denied housing. Owners who are willing to bypass the normal screening process such as waiving
the security deposit, including all utilities in the rent, and allowing for leniency on the screening
criteria will allow more veterans to be housed. These veterans are matched with Veterans Administrative
case managers who provide continuous services to ensure the veteran will remain housed. The case
managers will serve as mediators in the instance the veteran may violate the lease.
In order to house the chronically homeless, it is our goal to make available 30-40 pre-inspected units for
these veterans. If you are interested in having your unit pre-inspected and made available for veterans,
please contact Margaret Jones at margaret.jones@thafl.com.
THA is only pre-inspecting one bedroom units at this time.
If you are unable at this time to lease a unit to a veteran, there is still opportunity to assist.
Veterans may not have funds to pay for security or utility allowance deposits, furnishings, or
household goods. All donations made will go directly to a veteran in need. You may make your donation
at the
Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County’s website.
The link below is the information presented at the June 25th Community Forum meeting:
Homeless To Housed