HELENA — Roughly 30 veterans live at the Fort Harrison VA Medical Center as part of a rehabilitation program that exceeded its goal of getting homeless veterans housed.
"Having that shelter, that place to be safe in, allows you to get your other needs met. Next comes food security, transportation, jobs, and education. I cannot complete any of those things if I don't have someplace to lay my head at night," said Lisa Vrbas-Hart, a senior Housing and Urban Development and VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program case manager.
The Montana VA Health Care System aimed to house 230 veterans in the 2024 fiscal year, but they reached 249.
The houses you see below are home to some of the veterans in Helena, but there are other locations throughout the state, like the Victory House in Missoula.
The Montana VA Homeless and Vocational Rehabilitation Program also provides vouchers to veterans, assisting them with paying rent.
"It's very expensive and not just in cities like Missoula, Kalispell, or Bozeman, the places people think about," Montana VA Homeless and Vocational Rehabilitation Program manager Adrian Spencer said. "Even in the outlying neighborhoods and towns, those have gotten much more expensive, housing availability is much lower. It's a real big problem."
The program is built with the "Housing First" approach in mind: first providing housing and then connecting veterans with services like health care, job training, and legal and educational assistance.
"Many of these individuals are coming right out of service where their housing was part of their job essentially, and now they're out here going, 'What's next? How do I manage all this?'" Spencer said.
The VA Rocky Mountain Network also recently announced it housed over 2,000 veterans in five states this fiscal year, and more than 97% of housed veterans have not returned to homelessness.
"We've had several veterans over the time that I've been working with the VA that have been able to purchase their own houses. By getting them attached with VBA for Service Connect, employment, [or] anything that helps them to move forward in life rather than to be stagnant in life," Vbras-Hart said.
You can learn more about the services the VA provides for homeless veterans here.
