In southwest Minnesota, all homeless veterans finally have shelter

On Tuesday, southwest Minnesota's 18 counties declared that they've cleared their housing waiting lists for homeless veterans. Their accomplishment was verified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Veterans Affairs.

This corner of Minnesota now stands among 40 communities nationwide -- plus the states of Delaware, Connecticut, and Virginia -- that have figured out a way to put all known homeless veterans in homes and to intercede immediately as new ones pop up.

The blueprint for doing so, which Minnesota established in 2013, is time and manpower intensive, but has turned out to be pretty much foolproof.

It begins by identifying everyone who needs aid. Any ordinary person who finds a homeless veteran sitting by the side of the road can help by calling 1-888-LinkVet, and Veterans Affairs will send somebody to find him or her as soon as humanly possible. Then a team of social workers will literally sit around a table and figure out what each individual needs to get a home and stay in it.

Read more: http://www.citypages.com/news/in-southwest-minnesota-all-homeless-veterans-finally-have-shelter/416864953