PHOTO: The City has announced two partnerships with the private sector that Mayor Bill de Blasio (c.) says are helping to end homelessness within the veteran population in the five boroughs. Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
By Forum Staff
The administration this week announced two partnerships between the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs and the private sector totaling $750,000 that are aimed at helping to end homelessness within the veteran population in the five boroughs.
The Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation has awarded a $250,000 grant to MOVA, the Mayor’s Fund and Enterprise Community Partners to support the City’s efforts to meet and maintain Functional Zero, the national standard for ending veteran homelessness and rapidly re-housing all new veterans that enter the shelter system. The funds will go towards both direct services for veterans as well as system planning to sustain the City’s efforts to get to Functional Zero.
The Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation’s grant is the first private commitment received by the City specifically to help end chronic veteran homelessness, which includes veterans who have been without permanent housing for at least a year, or have experienced homelessness at least four times over three years.
Additionally, the Mayor’s Fund has raised $500,000 from private partners, including the Real Estate Board of New York and its members, to provide financial assistance to veterans who successfully transitioned from shelters to permanent housing at the end of 2015.
“Every veteran should receive proper housing and the services they need to help them cope with their experiences in war,” said Mayor de Blasio. “I thank the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, REBNY and our folks in the Mayor’s Fund and MOVA who are leading the way towards Functional Zero.”
Working with Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., the Mayor’s Fund and MOVA will use Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation’s funding to implement a new program with three goals:
Develop and staff the Veterans’ Transition Assistance Program, an aftercare program that is dedicated to keeping veterans who were placed in permanent housing from recidivating into the shelter system or street homelessness.
Engage in strategic planning to meet and maintain Functional Zero, work that is now underway based on the Deutsche Bank grant. This award funded a kickoff planning summit in February with more than 100 people in attendance, including representatives from seven City agencies, federal partners, nonprofit colleagues and recently housed veterans.
And develop the Coordinated Assessment Placement System, new technology that will help streamline the process of placing homeless individuals and their families in permanent housing, including our veterans.
The Mayor’s Fund has also launched the Veterans Housing Initiative, a public-private partnership to provide financial assistance to veterans who have successfully transitioned from the shelter system to permanent housing in order to encourage and empower them to begin their lives in their new homes. This initiative is also supporting the City’s efforts to meet and maintain “Functional Zero” by offering tools to facilitate veterans accessing and maintaining their housing.
“More veterans call Queens home than any other borough, and we honor their service to our nation and their sacrifices for our freedoms,” said Borough President Melinda Katz. “This administration has demonstrated its commitment with innovative ways to better serve our veterans, from elevating veterans’ affairs from a mayoral office into full departmental status, to unveiling of the first, newly-opened MOVA Satellite Office in Queens, to public-private partnerships like this to get to Functional Zero.”
