-
Veteran's Voice — Dec. 1, 2022
VA Assistance for Hurricanes Ian and Nicole There are some resources for veterans impacted by our recent hurricanes. More info at https://bit.ly/3Wq5l5f
The Fire Watch — Veterans Suicide Prevention Program
A new, Florida-based initiative to tackle the daunting issue of veteran suicide has been launched. The Fire Watch is taking a two-track approach by coordinating local resources with existing veteran service partners to assist veterans in crisis, and developing a Watch Stander network of trained volunteers, ideally fellow veterans, to direct those in crisis to the resources they need. For more information go to http://bit.ly/3EGREYP.
Good News on Veteran Homelessness
Veterans Affairs (VA) has placed 26,554 homeless veterans in permanent housing so far this year, achieving approximately 70% of the goal for 2022. The VA program is averaging 3,319 placements each month. Several sources have reported that veteran homelessness has decreased by approximately 10% between 2020 and 2021. The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that approximately 20,000 veterans experience “sheltered homelessness” each night, and veterans represent eight percent of all sheltered adults. It is also estimated there are another homeless veterans 20,000 veterans in America each night who either do not seek shelter or do not have access to a shelter.
Due to the availability of federal funds to address homeless veterans, communities have focused first on the homeless veteran community in their efforts to address homelessness in general. The VA is the primary federal agency to assist with veteran homelessness, and with the extensive resources available, simply no veterans should be homeless. Concerned individuals and agencies can contact the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at (877) 4AID-VET (877-424-3838) to obtain assistance for homeless veterans. More information at http://bit. ly/3EGYxJG.
Service-Disabled Veterans Life Insurance (S-DVLI) Enrollment Closes Soon
When veterans receive a disability rating from the VA, they become eligible for this insurance program but have a limited time (usually two years) to enroll. No doubt this is expensive insurance, but it is based on the premise that many disabled veterans may not be able to obtain life insurance in the regular market. A window has been open for the last several months to enroll in S-DVLI, convert an S-DVLI policy to a new VALife program, or enroll in VALife. This window will close soon at the end of December 2022. These programs are a bit complicated, and of course, everyone’s circumstances are different, so a good resource is this VA website at https://bit. ly/ 3NC84V9.
This column has been a mostly “all VA” show. I would like to report on more local happenings relevant to veterans, so please send me any information on veterans’ activities and other items of interest to osceolavets@gmail.com.
