Veteran Diversion Initiative
Learn about Heading Home’s recent work to end veteran homelessness.
As part of our efforts to make homelessness rare, brief and non-repeating, Heading Home and our partners are spearheading initiatives to decrease veteran homelessness. Part of that work includes a new diversion pilot project to prevent at-risk veterans from becoming homeless in Monroe County.
In early 2023, Heading Home started veteran case conferencing, an inter-agency, client-focused effort that targets next steps to find housing for veterans experiencing homelessness. Through this initiative, 21 veterans were able to obtain stable housing in 2023.
In late 2023, a task force convened to develop a Veteran Homeless Prevention and Diversion Strategy.
Task force members consist of people from a variety of organizations and agencies, including regional partners, emergency shelters, eviction prevention, street outreach, and veteran service organizations. The task force is chaired by Melissa Burgess of HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program (HIP) in Bloomington.
To best guide the creation of the strategy, this group is using a similar program developed by Indy HealthNet as a guide.
The Veteran Homeless Prevention and Diversion Strategy is a collaborative effort to address housing emergencies and prevent homelessness for veterans and their families who are at the highest risk of becoming homeless. This strategy aligns with Heading Home’s regional plan to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-repeating in Region 10. This region includes Monroe, Morgan, Owen, Lawrence, Greene and Martin counties.
The overall strategy is to address gaps in secondary prevention and diversion services through a coordinated approach to providing these services. If a housing crisis cannot be prevented, providers in Region 10’s veteran case conferencing will connect individuals to homeless crisis response services.
This pilot project will initially focus on Monroe County, in partnership with the Monroe County Veteran Affairs Department. The goal is to eventually roll out this program to other counties in Region 10, and then use this as a model for a broader diversion of all types of at-risk individuals and families.
Values that encompass the Veteran Homeless Prevention and Diversion strategy include it being a regional approach that’s focused on system improvement and having equitable access and outcomes.
Along with this, the strategy includes the following eight recommendations:
- #1 Adopt a Region-Wide Approach for Secondary Prevention & Diversion that Addresses Racial, Geographic, and Social Disparities.
- #2 Adopt a Housing Problem-Solving Approach to Partner with Veteran Households.
- #3 Create a Regional Prevention & Diversion Network
- #4 Provide Equitable Access to and Utilization of Prevention & Diversion Services
- #5 Provide Follow-Up Housing Stability Resources
- #6 Prioritize Assistance to Veteran Households Most At Risk of Becoming Homeless
- #7 Build & Sustain the Regional Prevention & Diversion Network
- #8 Track Outcomes for Success, Equity, and Improvements
In addition to this, the strategy also features three key outcomes:
- Outcome #1 Track the percentage of households that contacted the network who remain housed after diversion intervention.
- Outcome #2: Identify diversion interventions have kept people housed.
- Outcome #3: Compare outcomes by demographics including race and ethnicity to check on equity and make adjustments as needed.
Stay up to date on this and other Heading Home initiatives on the Heading Home news site to learn more about our work to ensure that residents of South Central Indiana have a safe, secure place to live.
