Homeless+Veterans+Committee

 For current activities to end veterans' homelessness, please see the Sonoma County Housing Veterans Campaign.  For information about the VA's 2014 SSVF NOFA and Sonoma County's Priority 1 eligibility, please see the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) page.

 The Committee on Homeless Veterans works to increase transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing for homeless, disabled veterans and to link veterans to mental health, primary health, and substance abuse treatment. More than 400 veterans are homeless in Sonoma County on a given night. Organizing since 2007 with input from homeless veterans themselves, the Committee on Homeless Veterans was well-positioned to document the need and bring VASH and other VA-funded housing to Sonoma County, vastly increasing the number of beds for homeless veterans and their families.

 The Committee also launched Sonoma County Vet Connect, which provides one-stop, no-cost information, assistance and referral for veterans' benefits, VA health care, counseling for veterans and their families, and housing and employment counseling through weekly half-day clinics in Santa Rosa, and monthly clinics in Guerneville, Petaluma, and Sonoma. For more information on Vet Connect, and times and locations, see [|Sonoma County Vet Connect].

In August 2011, Vietnam Veterans of California was awarded a Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) grant to serve nearly 400 very low-income families facing homelessness throughout Northern California, including Sonoma County. SSVF is a new VA program that will provide supportive services to very low-income Veterans and their families residing in or transitioning to permanent housing. The grantees will provide a range of supportive services designed to promote housing stability. For more information, see [].



The 2011 Point In Time Count data indicate that the majority of veterans experiencing homelessness in Sonoma County are over 40 years of age: we are not yet seeing the big influx of young veterans that we have been expecting. Rather, many older veterans lost jobs and eventually became homeless over the last two years.

Chaired by Kym Valadez, the North Counties HUD-VASH Coordinator, the Committee on Homeless Veterans meets monthly on the first Thursday, from 12:30-2:30 pm at the Sonoma County Community Development Commission, 1440 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa, CA. Contact Kym at kimberly.valadez@va.gov for more information.

Notes of meetings 2010-11 follow:

If you wish to access documents referenced in the notes and not posted here, please contact Jenny Abramson, the CoC Coordinator, at continuumofcare@comcast.net.