Top NYC Officials Deny Transitional Supportive Services to Homeless Veterans in VA-Funded Programs

MANA House Transitional GPD Program

I started working with transitional veterans in 2016 after I became homeless in Phoenix and referred to a Veterans Affairs and taxpayer-funded Grant & Per Diem Transitional Program (GPD), Catholic Charities MANA House started in a former Phoenix YWCA, where I spent 16 months as a resident and front desk clerk. In addition to 49 residents, I also ran the veteran's outreach program that transported 10-15 veterans from the Phoenix CASS homeless shelter twice a week to wash and replace their clothes, receive hygiene, medical kits, and batteries, check emails, get access to resources, and have a hot meal. Once a week was for veterans on the streets, in their cars, or in camps around Phoenix. All total to about 100-120 visits a month.

MANA House originated as Madison Street Veterans Association (MVSA) created after 14 veterans began to manage their own space in a Phoenix homeless shelter in May 2008. Two years later MVSA was approved for Grant & Per Diem funding by the Veterans Administration and on December 15, 2011, Army Medic and Director Terry Araman was recognized as a “Champion of Change” and invited to The White House to speak about ending veteran homelessness. On October 1, 2015, Catholic Charities Community Services incorporated MSVA into their programs and renamed it Catholic Charities MANA House.

Residents are provided transportation to the VA, hiring and resource events, ball games, and dinners hosted by an ever-appreciative community. Nearly every Saturday night and Sunday morning was one of numerous community organizations who would come in with tons of food and serve us up like kings. In addition to full access to the clothing locker, laundry, hygiene, computers, etc., supportive services include a housing specialist, employment services, and mental health. A continuous supply of complimentary tickets to Phoenix ball games and dinners keeps veterans engaged in the community they are transitioning into. Local business owners and politicos are frequent visitors with offers of employment, education, housing opportunities, and to keep the veterans in the loop on Veterans Affairs issues. Senator McCain visited MANA House as part of the launch of the Veterans Choice Program that assured veterans access to healthcare in a timely manner.

Many a time I checked in a veteran totally beat down, only to find them unrecognizable after just one week of good food, sleep and clean clothes. Local veterans’ groups are continuously donating clothing and blankets, hygiene, food, and blessing bags. Once a week a mental health psychiatrist and veteran would donate his time to meet with residents. Veterans are kept busy with chores and programming. Those without a long-term plan are encouraged to make one. And the mental health of the facility is one of hopefulness. Veterans can direct their own path forward knowing they have full support of the staff and the community of veterans and supporters. A heavy emphasis is placed on community engagement and camaraderie.

"We Don't Say, "Transitional"

Despite numerous references by the Veterans Administration in determining the Grant & Per Diem (GPD) Transitional Program as a ‘transitional’ program to include transitional housing, neither NYC Department of Veteran Services (NYCDVS) nor the Manhattan Veterans Affairs Dept of Homeless Services, will refer to the program as transitional housing; instead as only a shelter for homeless veterans. During a recent meeting with NYCDVS Assistant Commissioner Jason Loughran, the topic of providing supportive services was brought up. Mr. Loughran stated that, "We don't like to use transitional" going on to state that then "any veteran could be called transitioning."

While I had heard that before from non-veteran and Manhattan VA Director of Homeless Services Karen Fuller, it shocked me that a fellow veteran would say when his job to specifically provide transitional services while accepting VA money for a VA transitional program. Neither will take into consideration how those statements impact their client which are the veteran and the American taxpayer. It should be noted that while staff at NYC DVS is denying the existence of transitioning veterans, its website indicates otherwise, although makes no mention of Borden Avenue on the NYC website.

This tactic assumes that once a veteran leaves or is exited from the shelter, no further services are necessary, and the shelter can wash their hands of the veteran leaving them vulnerable to feelings of abandonment and hopelessness. NYC DVS Housing Director Lamar Wheeler told me that veterans need to be thankful for Borden Ave. because, “that’s all you get!”

And while this narrative allows DVS and the VA to dodge their responsibilities to the homeless veterans, they are leaving us to die in shelters in direct violation of Congress and Dept of Veterans Affairs. As a veteran in a transitional program, I am entitled to a safe and drug-free environment which the GPD program mandates and makes provisions for. Veterans are being subjected to daily assaults while living next to ineligible veterans overdosing and dying just because the NYC Dept of Veterans Services is complicit.  

Borden Avenue Veterans' Residency

The NYC Department of Homeless Services (NYCDHS)  and the Institute for Community Living which run the $3.9 million program make no reference about the multi-million dollar program on their websites, no resources to residents, no access to a nutritious diet, and no hope to 154 veterans under their care.

Compare that to other transitional programs that also receive $68.64 a day/veteran as authorized and paid by Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Congress (Title 38 Chapter I § 61.2), the website for NYCDVS makes no mention of Borden Avenue Veterans' Residence even though the agency is Congressionally obligated to provide transitional services to NYC veterans at Borden Ave.

This blatant disregard for the mental health and wellness of the veteran by the VA and NYC DVS naturally extends to how shelter staff engage with residents. One housing specialist, Army veteran Donna Perrot, bragged how a veteran was kicked out on Thanksgiving Day and raining. As she put it, “He was crying, so we finally allowed him to keep his stuff inside until his mother arrived.” That same staffer repeatedly told veterans that the fault of homelessness was ‘on them’ and that they needed to, ‘suck it up’ and, ‘be a man.’ 

In spite of the horrid conditions in the Borden Ave Veterans’ Residency shelter, veterans can experience an overwhelming sense of loss without transitional services who will then tend to isolate. Strict regulations imposed by shelter staff prevent any interaction between former residents and current residents other than out in the cold and rain. Such isolation and separation coupled with still unresolved drug/alcohol abuses and mental health issues allow for thoughts of suicide to creep into the mind of the now isolated veteran cut off from anyone they have known for months, even years, and creating a perfect scenario for suicide.

Top NYC Officials Refuse Transitional Supportive Services 

to Homeless Veterans in VA-Funded Programs_printable

Timothy Pena initially traveled to NYC at the invitation of RIP Medical Debt founder and U.S. Navy Veteran Jerry Ashton to collaborate for his project, Veterans Mission Possible. Soon after arriving, Tim decided he would rather be homeless in NYC than commit suicide in Phoenix and spent five months in a shelter before obtaining his HUD/VASH voucher for supportive housing while detailing his journey from homeless to homeness with a series of articles called, 'Be the Story'. He has testified before the NYS Department of Veterans Affairs, is a member of the NYC Veterans Task Force and Military Veterans in Journalism, while founding The Forgotten Veteran non-profit. Email: Timothy Pena