Influx of federal funds will help keep veterans off the streets

Catholic Charities Diocese of Stockton is receiving an influx of federal emergency funding to help get homeless veterans off the streets and in hotels during the ongoing public health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.

The additional money comes from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, which boosted funding to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to increase protections for veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nai Sosongkham is the program manager for the Catholic Charities' local branch of Supportive Services for Veterans and their Families, or VETFAM. The program offers veterans in San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties who are at risk of becoming homeless assistance with paying for things like security deposits, transportation and food, as well as current and past-due rent and utility bills, among others.

"(The VA wants) to make sure that everybody is safe and off the street as soon as possible," Sosongkham said. "While we're looking at helping them try to find a place and things like that, we can put them in hotels as long as they qualify for our program."

Funding for the hotel rooms will be available through the end of the fiscal year in September, while all other VETFAM services are available year round, Sosongkham said.

Sosongkham also said that the program can help veterans who aren't homeless stay where they're living if their incomes have been affected by COVID-19.

For example, while the state has put a temporary moratorium on evictions, Sosongkham said veterans who have lost their jobs recently and fallen behind on rent due to the disease can receive financial assistance to help them get caught up so they aren't evicted once the stay on evictions is eventually lifted.

VETFAM wants to keep veterans who already have a place to live from becoming homeless, Sosongkham said.

"We don't want them to be on the streets because they could be, you know, months behind because some of them are not getting paid," Sosongkham said. "We would rather pay for those arrears now instead of waiting 'til months down the line where they can't, where we won't be able to help them anymore."

The program also no longer needs a three-day eviction notice to provide rent assistance, Sosongkham said. VETFAM will accept a letter from the landlord saying that the applicant is behind in payments.

To qualify for the VETFAM program, Sosongkham said veterans cannot have been dishonorably discharged from the military, must make less than the median income in the county in which they live and provide proof of income. The applicant also must have proper documentation for everyone living with them, such as identification and social security cards or birth certificates for minors.

Couples living together don't have to be married, Sosongkham said. And if the applicant has children, they must have custody of them for more than half the time.

Veterans who don't have proper identification can get help obtaining it, Sosongkham said. If they do not have their discharge paperwork handy but have registered with the VA clinic health care system, VETFAM can also look up their information.

To apply for the program, contact a VETFAM case manager in the county where you live:

San Joaquin County, (209) 444-5935Stanislaus County, (209) 444-5943Tuolumne County, (209) 396-6903."We're going to help as much as we can until we run out of the funding," Sosongkham said of the emergency funding. "So it could be 10, it could be 100. Whatever we can help, we're going to do what we have to to help those clients in need."

Catholic Charities also offers other services to those need. For more information, go to their website at https://www.ccstockton.org/.

Contact reporter Cassie Dickman at (209) 546-8299 or cdickman@recordnet.com. Follow her on Twitter @byCassieDickman.

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