Homeless Veterans Program

Tonight there will be 800 to 1,200 veterans sleeping on the streets of the Commonwealth. KDVA is working hard to help Kentucky's homeless veterans. By establishing special assistance programs and coordinating efforts with both the local VA hospitals and federal, state and local homeless programs, we have been successful in helping veterans get off the streets into housing or some treatment facility.

For more information about our programs to help homeless veterans, click here to email the KDVA Homeless Veterans Coordinator.

Generous Donation
to Homeless Veterans Trust Fund

Kentucky Veterans Program Trust Fund Chairman Ken Lucas, left, and Homeless Veterans Coordinator Pat McKiernan, right, present a Kentucky Colonel Commission to Tom Loveless.

Bob Hook Chevrolet presented a check for $27,250 to Ken Lucas, chairman of the Kentucky Veterans Program Trust Fund. The company regularly holds fundraisers for various local causes, and most recently its recipient was the Homeless Veterans Trust Fund.

“I am deeply touched by this gift,” Lucas said. “We are very proud to have a trust fund and a program that allows us to direct every penny of donations like this to homeless veterans and those in danger of becoming homeless. This is the largest single donation the Homeless Veterans Trust Fund has ever received."

Salesman Tom Loveless started the fundraising tradition 12 years ago with a fundraiser for a coworker who was struggling with large medical bills.  The staff had so much fun and felt so rewarded by the fundraising that owner Bob Hook made it a regular event.

On April 8, 2005, KDVA opened its long-sought Homeless Veterans Transition Facility at the Leestown Campus of the Lexington VA Medical Center, in partnership with the Volunteers of America. As of June 30, 2010, the Leestown program had graduated 100 homeless and substance-abusing  veterans to sobriety, stable housing and jobs.
KDVA was able to open the facility thanks to $150,000 from the Veterans Program Trust Fund. The facility also receives a per diem of $31.30 (per resident per day) from the USDVA.

FY 2010 offered continued success as 141 veterans have received services and the census stays consistently at the 40 bed capacity. The program also benefited from the continued support of the AmeriCorps volunteer.

In October St. James Place apartments in Lexington celebrated the fourth year of operation with all 38 efficiency apartment units for homeless veterans fully occupied. These units receive support from the USDVA Homeless Veterans Grant & Per Diem Program. Because each unit is complete with kitchen and private bath males and females will use this facility.

The Interlink Counseling Services facility in Louisville continued the mission of serving homeless veterans maintaining a 90% capacity of the 85 male beds. Interlink also created the Landing Zone with five emergency housing beds that allows the program to take homeless veterans off the street. Prior to this addition veterans had to enter one of the homeless programs for a brief period prior to admission.

St. Vincent DePaul in Louisville provides 20 beds through the Grant & Per Diem for homeless veterans, and recently Wayside Christian Mission renovated facilities to provide transitional housing to 10 men, four women, and two family units. The family units are unique to the State of Kentucky and offer the opportunity for a male or female veteran to bring a spouse and children into the a G&PD-sponsored unit.

All the facilities offer, in addition to rooms and regular meals, multiple services, including:

• Drug and alcohol abuse counseling
• Education referrals
• Employment and job training referrals
• Assistance with permanent housing

Leestown Homeless Veterans Transition Facility

Dr. Patrick McKiernan, CADC, is KDVA's Homeless Veterans Outreach Coordinator. He represents the agency on the Kentucky Interagency Council on Homeless (KICH), which advised the Governor and his staff on homelessness and housing issues across the state. Dr. McKiernan also represents KDVA at the annual conference of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans in Washington, D.C., and the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky, which is the state's advocacy group for the homeless. Dr. McKiernan is developing plans to establish the Homeless Veterans Coordination Committee to provide additional guidance and support to help homeless veterans.