Jim Coleman, 61, says that when he received a federal voucher to help cover his rent in 2011, it was a turning point in his life.

“It made a big difference, saved my life and got me off the streets,” Coleman said Monday. “It was a good thing.”

Coleman, who served in the Navy from 1970 to 1972, received a voucher intended to help chronically homeless military veterans get into housing and begin to address other needs, such as nutrition and medical care.

Coleman said he was among the first five veterans to receive vouchers in 2011, after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs came under criticism for waiting more than six months to assign the first 25 vouchers to veterans in Central Oregon. Groups that raised concerns about the VA’s slowness now say the program works well in Central Oregon. The program has grown since 2011, with 75 vouchers now allocated for veterans in the region. Low-income veterans who participate pay 30 percent of their income toward rent, and the voucher covers the balance. For veterans without income, the vouchers can cover their entire rent bill.

Jeanette Morrison, a VA social worker in Bend who works with veterans in need of housing, said Monday that veterans are currently using 64 of the 75 vouchers to help pay their rent.

Five more veterans have vouchers and are searching for housing, two veterans are in the process of receiving vouchers and caseworkers are in the process of selecting veterans to receive the remaining vouchers. Thirteen veterans left the program for positive reasons, such as increases in income that meant they were no longer eligible for vouchers, Morrison said. One veteran purchased a home. Some veterans also moved to different housing assistance programs because of their mental health needs, and two veterans dropped out of the program for reasons Morrison did not know. The VA in Bend maintains a list of veterans interested in vouchers, but Morrison did not know how long it was.

Jerry Hollis, executive director of Central Oregon Veterans Outreach, said last week he has not heard of any problems with the voucher program since he began working for the outreach group earlier this year. Hollis said a larger problem is the lack of available rental housing in Central Oregon.

“Because of the lack of housing in this area, there are more vouchers out there — regular (U.S. Housing and Urban Development) vouchers as well as VA vouchers — than there are places to spend them,” Hollis said last week. Central Oregon Veterans Outreach owns more than half a dozen apartment complexes and single-family homes for veterans in Deschutes County, according to county property records. Some of the tenants use federal vouchers to help pay the rent.

Kenny LaPoint, housing director for local housing authority Housing Works, criticized the VA several years ago for taking too long to hire a Central Oregon caseworker. Housing Works administers the veterans vouchers, but VA caseworkers decide who receives the vouchers. Today, the VA has three caseworkers in Bend to assist veterans with housing issues.

“We were going through the wintertime, and there were a lot of veterans living on the street,” LaPoint said of the situation in 2010 and 2011, in an interview last week. One veteran who was living in a tent was injured when a propane tank exploded.

LaPoint said the turning point was when U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, put pressure on the VA to hire a caseworker for Central Oregon. Within 15 days, the agency hired a caseworker, and LaPoint said the situation improved.

“The program is working very well,” LaPoint said. “In fact, we’ve seen quite a few successes come out of it where a homeless veteran needs to be stabilized in housing, and that’s the key to that person obtaining employment and benefits.”

Veterans use vouchers for housing throughout Central Oregon, including some of the affordable apartments owned by Housing Works, LaPoint said. The vouchers do not cover security deposits, so LaPoint said he raised money to pay for those, too. LaPoint said the security deposit assistance made the program more successful and is likely one reason Central Oregon received an additional 50 vouchers, for a total of 75.

The length of time that qualified veterans wait to obtain vouchers varies significantly, because caseworkers evaluate how acutely people need housing.

“The benefit of having these vouchers is really the intense case management,” Morrison said. “The housing gives them a stable place so they can focus on the other issues that need to be addressed.”

Coleman pays one-third of his monthly income — a $1,000 monthly military pension payment, plus money he earns as a painter during the summer — toward rent, and the voucher covers the remainder. “It’s kind of rough,” Coleman said. Nonetheless, he saves $120 a month with one goal in mind: in a year or two, Coleman hopes to buy his own home, through a Housing Works down payment assistance program.

— Reporter: 541-617-7829, hborrud@bendbulletin.com