Borden Avenue Veterans' Shelter (NYC) Report 2026

Part 13: NYC Department of Veterans' Services

Timothy Pena

Founder/Veterans Justice Project

September 2026

Advocacy and Responsibility to Homeless Veterans

Introduction

The New York City Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS) occupies a distinct position within the system serving Veterans experiencing homelessness. DVS does not administer the federal Department of Veterans Affairs Grant and Per Diem (GPD) Program, operate the Borden Avenue Veterans’ Residence, or manage the Department of Homeless Services shelter contract with the Institute for Community Living. Its significance lies instead in its Veteran-specific mission involving advocacy, benefits access, housing assistance, outreach, and coordination across government and community organizations.

Parts 8 through 12 examine Borden Avenue operations, public safety, ICL finances, program models, and DHS contractual responsibility. Part 13 therefore focuses more narrowly on whether DVS can effectively bridge the institutional boundaries that homeless Veterans must navigate and elevate recurring problems to agencies capable of resolving them.

Advocacy Across Agency Boundaries

Veterans experiencing homelessness may simultaneously interact with VA healthcare, HUD-VASH, DHS, housing agencies, nonprofit providers, Social Security, benefits organizations, and community services. No single agency controls this entire process, and fragmentation can create delays that are especially difficult for someone without stable housing or reliable transportation.

DVS can provide particular value by helping Veterans navigate those boundaries. Effective advocacy should extend beyond providing telephone numbers or making referrals. When appropriate, it should help identify the responsible organization, facilitate the connection, and determine whether the Veteran actually obtained assistance.

For homeless Veterans, DVS coordination can include:

• Connection to VA benefits, healthcare, and Veteran-specific programs.
• Assistance identifying appropriate housing resources.
• Coordination when responsibilities cross City and federal agencies.
• Identification of recurring barriers affecting multiple Veterans.
• Referral of unresolved concerns to agencies with authority to act.
• Follow-up when a referral does not produce a resolution.

This function complements rather than replaces the responsibilities of VA, DHS, ICL, housing agencies, or other service providers.

Borden Avenue and DVS Advocacy

Borden Avenue illustrates why a Veteran-specific City agency remains relevant even when it lacks operational control over a facility. Project records identify concerns involving safety, housing delays, transportation, nutrition, access to VA resources, and other transitional services. Those subjects are evaluated elsewhere in this report and should not be repeated as DVS findings.

For DVS, the important question is what happens when such concerns are brought to its attention. The Department can document the issue, identify whether DHS, ICL, VA, or another organization possesses the relevant authority, refer the matter appropriately, and seek follow-up when recurring problems affect Veterans.

A useful advocacy process can be expressed as:

Concern → Documentation → Referral → Assigned Responsibility → Follow-Up → Resolution or Further Escalation

This structure prevents advocacy from ending with the initial referral. It also recognizes DVS's actual role without incorrectly assigning it DHS's contractual authority or VA's federal GPD regulatory responsibilities.

Homeless Veterans Within the Larger City System

DVS can also help connect the municipal homelessness system with the specialized resources available to Veterans. Veterans entering DHS facilities may not immediately understand their potential eligibility for VA healthcare, compensation, HUD-VASH, GPD, employment assistance, education benefits, or other Veteran-specific programs. Early identification of Veteran status and appropriate referral can reduce the risk that a Veteran moves through the general shelter system without accessing resources specifically designed for Veterans.

This coordinating role is particularly relevant for populations whose circumstances may complicate access, including women Veterans, Veterans leaving incarceration, older Veterans, recently discharged service members, and Veterans whose principal needs involve housing or economic stabilization rather than behavioral-health treatment. The objective is not to create a separate DVS program for every population, but to ensure that existing systems remain accessible to them.

Veteran Voice and Direct Engagement

Veterans with firsthand experience of homelessness and transitional housing can identify barriers that administrative reports may not reveal. DVS participates in a broader City structure that includes the Veterans Advisory Board, Veterans Task Force, public hearings, roundtables, and other opportunities for Veteran participation.

Meaningful engagement should produce more than an opportunity to speak. When Veterans identify recurring problems, those concerns should enter a documented process of referral, follow-up, and, where appropriate, policy review.

Direct engagement can help DVS distinguish between a service that formally exists and one that Veterans can actually obtain. It can also identify patterns that may not become apparent when individual complaints are considered separately.

Measuring Effective Advocacy

DVS activity can be measured through outreach events, referrals, meetings, and partnerships, but those measures principally describe what the agency does. They do not necessarily establish what happened to the Veteran afterward.

For Veterans experiencing homelessness, meaningful indicators can include successful connections to benefits and healthcare, access to appropriate housing resources, permanent-housing outcomes, resolution of recurring service barriers, and documented follow-up on concerns referred to other agencies.

DVS cannot guarantee outcomes controlled by VA, DHS, housing authorities, landlords, or other entities. It can, however, demonstrate whether it identified barriers, connected responsible organizations, elevated unresolved problems, and remained engaged when Veterans risked becoming lost between systems.

Conclusion

The New York City Department of Veterans’ Services should be evaluated according to its actual place within the Veteran-service system. It does not operate Borden Avenue, administer the federal GPD Program, or supervise DHS shelter contracts. Holding DVS responsible for those functions would obscure rather than clarify accountability.

Its distinctive responsibility is advocacy and coordination. When Veterans encounter barriers spanning VA, DHS, housing agencies, nonprofit providers, and other systems, DVS can help ensure that those institutional boundaries do not become barriers to benefits, healthcare, services, or permanent housing.

Effective DVS advocacy should therefore be demonstrated through connection, escalation, follow-up, and results rather than referral activity alone. For homeless Veterans, the practical measure is whether the City's Veteran-specific agency helps government systems work together and ensures that concerns affecting Veterans remain visible until the responsible organization addresses them.