San Diego County receives $2.5 million to support housing vouchers for homeless vets

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency announced Thursday that it received $2.5 million in federal funding to support housing vouchers to unsheltered military veterans.

The county will use the $2,520,346 grant to issue 175 housing vouchers to veterans throughout the county. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the grant to the county HHSA through its Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program, which supports rental assistance, drug and alcohol counseling and financial education for veterans and their families.

"This grant is good news for our unsheltered veteran population,'' said HHSA Housing and Community Development Services Director David Estrella. "The funds will secure a stable place to live for men and women in our community that have sacrificed so much.''

HUD also awarded a VASH grant of nearly $3.8 million to the San Diego Housing Commission earlier this week. Both grants will help local agencies find homes for some of the county's homeless population of 8,102 -- one-tenth of which are veterans.

Residents can apply for the vouchers at sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/sdhcd/rental-assistance/overview.html or by

contacting the county at 877-478-5478. Landlords interested in housing veterans through the voucher program can contact 2-1-1 San Diego at 211sandiego.org/help-end-homelessness.