VA Black Hills explores potential homeless shelter for veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for contractors to open a place for homeless veterans in the Black Hills to temporarily stay and receive help.

The “emergency residential service” is in its very early stages of planning.

According to Sandra Horsman, Director of the VA Black Hills Health Care System, the location and timeline moving forward depend on the contractor.

Horsman says the shelter is a step to get veterans in the door so they can begin the process of getting back on their feet. “The first, number one thing is get them off the streets, especially when you look at, we’re looking at -7 degrees today. Let’s get them some place warm, some place safe, some place where we know they’re sheltered and fed, and that our counselors can start talking to them,” said Horsman.

The VA has a HUD-VASH program, which stands for Housing and Urban Development – Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing. The program conducts counts throughout western South Dakota in the wintertime to gauge the needs of homeless veterans. Vouchers within the program offers rental assistance combined with clinical services offered through the VA.

The temporary shelter aims to serve as the 60-90 day interim stay between homelessness and finding housing through the HUD-VASH program or other avenues.

For those interested or with questions, the VA urges those questions go to Matthew Dale, Matthew.Dale3@va.go. The deadline is March 11, but initial questions are due March 4.