UPDATE: 68 homeless veterans placed in housing since challenge, officials say

Since October 2014 when the city of Dover took on the challenge to end veteran homelessness, Mayor Robin Christiansen says 68 homeless vets in Dover have found permanent housing: 54 in 2015 and 14 so far in 2016.

“It was the intent of the group from the minute we started the effort to make sure these folks were not in shelters, that they would actually be in homes that they could call homes,” Says Mayor Christiansen.

He credits the Dover’s Veterans Welcome Home Team.

William Farley, vice chairman of the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs, says they’re taking government programs that already exist and making them more efficient. This includes the state housing authority and the city housing authority establishing a preference for veterans.

Farley says this means a homeless veteran who applies for housing could be moved up the waiting list faster, all within accordance to the housing authorities’ guidelines.

“We look at the programs that are available to them and we find out if there are any barriers to them accessing those programs,” Explains Farley. “When we bring those people into the room who actually work with the programs, we found that red tape started to fall apart and we were able to get veterans into houses faster.”

According to Farley, the average time it took to identify a veteran in need to the day they actually moved into a house was 52 days last year. This year the time-frame is even shorter at 41 days.

Mayor Christiansen tells 47ABC while he’s proud of the progress the city has made, they still have a long road ahead.

“We will not be finished this challenge or this task until every veteran that needs a home, has a home,” He says.

Farley says they’re still working on setting a goal of how many homeless veterans in Dover they’d like to find housing for this year.

If you’d like to help out any established teams or coalitions that directly combat veteran homelessness in Delaware, click here.