VA seeks emergency shelter provider for 100 vets

Shannon Corbeil
Apr 29, 2020 4:02 PM PDT
1 minute read
Air Force photo

SUMMARY

The VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System is seeking a contractor to offer on-site contracted residential services for approximately one hundred homeless veterans per day. The Contractor shall rapidly stabilize veterans of the program th…
The VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System is seeking a contractor to offer on-site contracted residential services for approximately one hundred homeless veterans per day. The Contractor shall rapidly stabilize veterans of the program through treatment, addressing mental health, physical health, substance abuse and other psychosocial problems.

Vets Advocacy, a non-profit organization dedicated to revitalizing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Campus, is helping to amplify the search for a contractor to help provide services.

Offers are due Monday, Dec. 23, 2019.


Homeless Veteran Lives in His Car in Los Angeles

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According to the Los Angeles Times, there are 3,878 veterans who lack a "fixed, regular, or adequate place to sleep" on any given night in Los Angeles County. While the number of homeless people in L.A. has been on the rise in the past year, the good news is that the number of homeless veterans "stayed essentially flat" (and even declined in the year before.

The reason for this trend is credited largely to financial assistance from the government.

"In the past, homelessness was largely viewed as an economic problem," Dr. Jack Tsai, an Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist at Yale University, told The Defense Post. "But due to deinstitutionalization of those with severe mental illness and the increasing visibility of homelessness in large cities, homelessness really has become a public health problem and one closely related to mental illness."

The Defense Post goes on to say, "Veterans are more likely than civilians to experience homelessness due to combat-related injury or illness, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, or sexual trauma while in service, according to the National Coalition to End Homelessness. These traumas, if untreated, can result in substance abuse which affects a person's ability to earn a stable income and increases the risk of homelessness."

This contract will provide services to 100 veterans who may be of the following eligible homeless veteran populations: males, over the age of 55, or high priority veterans with acutely elevated suicide risk factors.

Offers are due Dec. 23, 2019. The contract will be for a base and three one-year option periods beginning on or about March 1, 2020. Anyone interested can view the complete solicitation here.

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