Housing Works, the affordable housing provider serving the tri-county Central Oregon region, has secured an additional ten federally-funded vouchers to aid veterans with quality, low-cost living quarters.
“These vouchers will improve lives in the most fundamental way – providing safe, clean, permanent, affordable housing for homeless veterans,” said Kenny LaPoint, Housing & Resident Services Director for Housing Works. “Often we’re talking about helping entire families when it comes to these vouchers. Veterans have given us so much through their service and it’s an honor to be able to return the favor. We want these servicemen and women and their dependents to recover the dignity of having a place to call home.”
The VASH vouchers, which can be redeemed on a monthly basis for rent by those who qualify, are funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and administered by Housing Works, one of only five housing authorities in the state to be awarded additional VASH (Veteran’s Affairs Supportive Housing) vouchers. The organization has a long record of success in pushing for state and federal legislative action to address rural Oregon’s housing needs. In 2011, a collaboration between Housing Works, Central Oregon Veterans Outreach and U.S. Congressman Walden resulted in the awarding of 50 (VASH) Vouchers for Central Oregon, for example.
LaPoint estimates that through the total 60 VASH vouchers issued in 2011 and 2012, 180 individuals are being helped to get off the streets. He attributes the awarding of the additional vouchers to the effective collaboration that the region’s social service organizations have established over the years. Said LaPoint, “Central Oregon agencies have a proven track record of acting in concert to get the needs of our community met. We’re good at combining efforts and utilizing our talents cooperatively for the good of the cause. It’s this efficiency that helps us get results.”
Housing Works is the leading affordable housing provider in Central Oregon, serving Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson counties. Since 1977, Housing Works has helped provide housing services to thousands of low-income families as they work to move above the poverty line. Housing Works fulfills its mission, “Fostering Dignity through Housing,” through a variety of housing programs and affiliated Families Forward, HomeQuest and Family Self-Sufficiency programs. Currently, Housing Works serves approximately 2,000 households through affordable housing partnerships, grant funding and federal contracts.
