Our Mission and Vision
Mission Statement
The Veterans’ Place, Inc. (TVPI) is dedicated to providing unhoused veterans with the environment, tools, and support they need to transition to independent, sustainable, substance-free, and productive lives.
Vision Statement
To see an end to veteran homelessness through a statewide, coordinated, accessible network of supports and services, as modeled by TVPI.
The History of The Veterans’ Place
Inspired to serve those who served
The Veterans’ Place has provided high-quality, supportive housing services to homeless veterans in Northern New England for over a decade. We collaborate closely with the Veterans Administration and all major Vermont housing and social service agencies in an effort to deliver comprehensive, integrated services required to help homeless veterans transition to stable, permanent, and affordable housing as quickly as possible.
At the Veterans’ Place, we offer a wide range of support services to veterans to meet their needs and remove barriers to achieving our goal of “zero functional homelessness” for area veterans.
Over the last decade, our program has on average met or exceeded key Veterans Affairs (VA) benchmarks. An important part of our success has been creating a stable, supportive environment in which formerly homeless veterans can successfully address the many issues that have contributed to past difficulties. Our expertise and extensive experience assisting veterans struggling with substance use issues have been crucial, especially since those issues play a major role in chronic homelessness in Northern New England, where opioid abuse, including heroin addiction, has soared in recent years, in addition to our historically high rates of alcohol use. Washington County, Vermont, where we are located, has the highest rate of homeless Veterans in the state.
The Veterans’ Place has over 16 years experience assessing and providing services under the Service Intensive Transitional Housing and Hospital to Housing models. Our program staff, facilities, and support structure are fully equipped to sustain and support these housing models to assist in ending homelessness among Veterans in Vermont and regionally.
Our approach to veterans achieves success
From their first day in our program, all veterans receive extensive assistance finding permanent housing as well as funding to assist with housing costs. Our residents primarily come from Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and the New England region. There are 30-90 day near-term goals set with the veteran for realistic expectations on housing—as it relates to employment, disability rating, and other income factors.
With the assistance of our Housing Case Manager, a veteran eligible for subsidized or market-value housing identifies housing applications needed to be completed for the areas in which they wish to live. Numerous applications are completed so as to increase the odds of securing housing in a timely manner.
Finding and securing affordable housing in Vermont is a challenge for most Vermonters, but especially for veterans with disabilities, which many of our residents are. Our Housing Case Manager starts the process immediately and works diligently to find permanent housing to accommodate a veteran’s specific disabilities. It generally takes longer to find the right home for a veteran with a physical disability since Vermont has relatively few accessible apartments, duplexes, or rental homes. Our Housing Case Manager assists veterans whose disabilities impair their communication skills, making it difficult for them to communicate effectively with their landlord; in this way, minor concerns and problems are kept from becoming major ones.
In addition, the Veterans’ Place finds outside providers for those Veterans who need assistance with self-care in areas such as personal hygiene, healthy eating, taking medications as prescribed, and housekeeping. We also monitor each individual’s ability to live independently. When necessary, veterans who can no longer live independently due to health conditions are transitioned to skilled nursing facilities, which are better staffed to cope with the higher level of care the men need.
