Vouchers put homeless veterans into housing

The federal government is allocating 25 rental assistance vouchers worth $173,064 to help get local homeless veterans and their families into stable housing.

The vouchers, awarded Thursday by HUD's Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Authority, are part of a $58.6 million national program targeted to house homeless veterans.

Locally, the housing authority will work with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salisbury to identify veterans needing help with rent.

Those veterans are already getting help from VA counselors and are in the VA system, said HUD spokesman Donna White.

"They will get the vouchers until they no longer need it. The hope is that if these veterans had a stable home, they'd be able to find a job and get their lives back on track," White said. "By targeting homeless vets, they're not competing with other families who need housing choice vouchers."