SANTA ANA, CA—More attention is being paid to veterans' housing needs, but Orange County needs to identify significant additional resources directed specifically at creating more housing for this population, Jamboree Housing Corp.'s VP marketing and communications Mary Jo Goelzer tells GlobeSt.com. A significant step towards housing Orange County's homeless veterans was recently made by the City of Santa Ana when the City Council approved awarding Jamboree and mental-health service provider Step Up on Second Inc. with 75 Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing project-based vouchers to help finance the development of supportive-housing units for homeless veterans who will also receive employment, healthcare and other special services.

The vouchers were issued to Jamboree by the Santa Ana Housing Authority after a comprehensive review process which led to the selection of the developer team for the Santa Ana Veterans Village, the largest veterans-housing community in Orange County. Along with quality housing, the $24.4-million Veterans Village will be a hub of enriched services and activities provided by a variety of partner agencies to support the veteran residents.

We spoke with Goelzer about the VASH voucher awards and how Orange County is addressing the need for specialized affordable housing such as Veterans Village.

GlobeSt.com: What do the VASH voucher awards mean for this project, your company and the communities affected?

Goelzer: According to the Veterans Administration, there are roughly 80,000 veteran households in Orange County without children and more than 33,000 households with children. We estimate conservatively that means there are somewhere between 170,000 and 200,000 persons (adults and children) living in households with a veteran as head of household or a member of the family.

In 2015, a USC study of county veterans found that a significant percentage of those exiting the service suffered from or were at risk of homelessness or unstable housing as well as disabling conditions that placed them and the children in their households at risk. This VASH award means that the most vulnerable among the Orange County Veteran community will have resources and housing targeted directly at their needs. The vouchers provide the gap financing necessary to make the project financially feasible. This gives Jamboree a wonderful opportunity to do our first project dedicated 100% to the provision of housing and support services for homeless veterans. For the surrounding community and the city of Santa Ana, it converts a site on a major street that was formerly used for truck parking into a beautiful community that will fill a dire need for our veterans.

GlobeSt.com: How is Orange County addressing the need for specialized affordable housing such as Santa Ana Veterans Village in the Orange County market?

Goelzer: Orange County has a variety of efforts underway in various cities as well as the county to utilize VASH vouchers. The Santa Ana Veterans Village is the largest special needs housing development ever attempted in Orange County. This project is critically important to demonstrate a deep commitment on the part of the City of Santa Ana and Jamboree to work directly with the Veterans Administration to play a leadership role in Orange County's efforts to serve our honored veterans.

GlobeSt.com: Is more attention being paid to veterans' housing needs lately, especially with the Orange County Real Estate Luncheon to benefit veterans' charities?

Goelzer: Yes, more attention is being paid to such needs, but the critical need in Orange County is to identify significant additional resources directed specifically at creating more housing specifically for this population. Without additional capital to either redevelop or create more housing, in a highly impacted housing market like Orange County, veterans with specialized housing needs will almost certainly go largely unmet. The USC study highlighted the fact that close to 18% of post-9/11 veterans and 10% of pre-9/11 veterans reported being homeless in the past year—defined as having slept in a car or truck, in the outdoors or with a stranger at any time. With the estimated population growing by 6,500 new veterans each year, these challenges are likely to continue to grow.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about the VASH voucher program?

Goelzer: The major emphasis of the VASH program is the combination of housing and services. The voucher program provides the veterans not only rental assistance, but also services that are critical to the effort to get these veterans the counseling and other help they need to fully rehabilitate.

We spoke with Goelzer about the VASH voucher awards and how Orange County is addressing the need for specialized affordable housing such as Veterans Village.

GlobeSt.com: What do the VASH voucher awards mean for this project, your company and the communities affected?

GlobeSt.com: How is Orange County addressing the need for specialized affordable housing such as Santa Ana Veterans Village in the Orange County market?

GlobeSt.com: Is more attention being paid to veterans' housing needs lately, especially with the Orange County Real Estate Luncheon to benefit veterans' charities?

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about the VASH voucher program?

Instant Insights /

One OC Group That Needs Housing Resources Critically

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