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Spokane veterans finding homes: Local VA assists in meeting housing goal set in 2022, challenges ahead in 2023

Wallace Toombs, a Navy veteran, was able to stay in his apartment of 26 years with assistance from the VA after his rent was increased last year. Toombs has diabetes and other mobility issues and wanted to stay living independently where he felt safe. He served 1973-77 and was a store clerk aboard the nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser U.S.S. Long Beach. (DAN PELLE/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
By Kip Hill kiphillreporter@gmail.com(509) 459-5429

More than 400 military veterans in the Inland Northwest in imminent danger of becoming homeless found housing last year.

Each of those veterans has their own story and needs, which makes placement under a program that is trying to keep up with a voracious demand on available units and the rising cost of everything a difficult task, said Shannon Dunkin, homeless program manager for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Spokane.

“Essentially, veterans can get to us however they want,” said Dunkin, whose office is at Second Avenue and Sherman Street downtown in the VA homeless clinic, which serves an area reaching west to the Cascades, east to Montana, south to Whitman County and north to the Canada border.

The VA last year laid out a goal to assist 38,000 veterans nationwide who were in emergency need of housing to avoid becoming homeless. The target was set as many parts of the country, including the Inland Northwest, saw expiring moratoriums on eviction and rent increases imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just like other renters in the region, military veterans experienced increases in their housing costs, with many of them on fixed incomes .

The emergency housing voucher program is administered in partnership between the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Eligible veterans typically pay about 30% of their income to cover the cost of housing, while the voucher makes up the rest, Dunkin said.

The program was started more than 30 years ago but ramped up during the Obama administration, and officials have pointed to dwindling numbers of veterans counted as homeless during national Point-in-Time counts as evidence the program is working.

The most recent nationwide count found an 11% decline in the number of homeless veterans between 2020 and 2022, from 37,532 to 33,136. No count was published in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The national trend was also true in Spokane County, where the number of homeless veterans counted fell from 143 in 2020 to 120 in 2022, a decrease of 16%. The 403 veterans who received housing last year from the Spokane VA included people living beyond just Spokane County.

The VA has set the same housing goal for this year, hoping to reach 38,000 veterans living on the streets or in danger of losing their housing. Matching 2022’s number in 2023 will be difficult as costs continue to rise, acknowledged Denis McDonough, the United States secretary for veteran affairs, in a recent news conference in Washington, D.C.

“To meet our goal again next year,” McDonough said, “we are going to need to increase voucher utilization.”

Part of the challenge will be that the value of vouchers, which determine what units are available for rent to military veterans who receive the assistance, already has been set for 2023. In Spokane County, that maximum value is $1,000 for a one-bedroom apartment, which can make finding an available unit difficult in a competitive market, Dunkin said.

“I think the market changes faster than some of these systems,” she said. “We’re having to play catch-up a little bit.”

Veterans who have benefited from the subsidy programs in Spokane County said they were concerned about the increasing cost of housing and how that cost might stretch their budget or force them out of their homes. Federal law requires that a veteran be already homeless or within 14 days of becoming homeless to be eligible for the programs the local VA is using to assist.

McDonough said the VA nationally will focus its efforts this year on homeless prevention, as well as helping those already on the streets.

“We have to do an even better job this year ahead in making sure that those in housing stay,” he said. “Yes, there’s a lot of prevention work we can do. The president’s budget envisions that. Our programming envisions that.”

President Joe Biden’s budget plan, released last month, included $3.1 billion in additional resources to help homeless veterans, according to the VA.

Dunkin said local officials were able to house so many veterans, despite the challenges, because of willing landlords in the community who worked with the agency to ensure housing for their clients.

“Part of what my job is is to really advocate and talk with landlords,” she said. “I think Spokane is such a great veteran-supporting community. A lot of times, folks will want to step up.”

In addition, the VA can offer clinical support from their office downtown, as well as in-home visits to ensure the person is receiving any services they need to address why they became homeless in the first place, Dunkin said.

The Spokesman-Review spoke with three local men who attained housing through VA subsidies over the past decade, including two who were facing homelessness or became homeless in 2022.

Each offered their advice about how to get help, and what the future of the program could mean for them and their peers.

Staff writer Orion Donovan-Smith contributed to this report.