Homeless Veterans Transition 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.
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Homeless Veterans Transition Facility |
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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 February 2006, 30 homeless veterans have enrolled in the program.
 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.
The Leestown facility opened with 20 beds and expanded to 40 beds in January 2006. In addition to KDVA's facility, homeless veterans can avail themselves of two other programs: The Interlink Counseling Services facility in Louisville serves 80 male and five female veterans. St. Vincent dePaul in Louisville provides 20 beds for homeless veterans.
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.
There is something fundamentally wrong when veterans of our Armed Forces are forced by life's circumstances to live on the streets. We are trying our best to make a difference in the lives of these individuals who once stood proud in a uniform of the United States military, but who are now relegated to living in card board boxes and under bridges. So we decided to take the message to where homeless veterans are...in shelters, under bridges and anywhere else we can find them. Call (502) 564-9203 or toll free (800) 572-6245 (inside Kentucky) or email us if we can provide assistance in any way to a homeless veteran.
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