Bethesda Cares is fully committed to ensuring that all homeless veterans are immediately placed into housing. We participate in a county-wide program called the Veterans Rapid Rehousing Program. When an outreach workers uncovers a homeless veteran, we expedite their case and swiftly find them housing. We then provide their first month’s rent, and an ongoing monthly subsidy to keep them housed. At the same time we work with them as case managers and counselors, helping them with government benefits, career searches, and counseling.
In 2015 we worked closely with Montgomery County to end homelessness for veterans, in a campaign called Zero:2016. By the end of the year our county had achieved a virtual end to homelessness for veterans. As new veterans experiencing homelessness move into our county’s borders, we continue to prioritize housing placements for them.
Much like our Critical Time Intervention Program, our Housing Initiative Program (HIP) is a tool designed to keep formerly homeless clients in permanent supportive housing. These individuals, once chronically homeless and now living in permanent supportive housing units, receive home visits from our staff as often as six times a month. We help them access medical care, social services and counseling, and guide them through the transitory process of leaving homelessness behind, and once again becoming fully functional community members.
