COLORADO SPRINGS — Capacity for aiding homeless veterans in Colorado Springs is expanding. The Salvations Army’s transitional housing program just got a grant extension and expansion from the Veterans Administration.
Veterans Administration leaders recognized successful outcomes happening in Colorado Springs. "We track successful graduates, and we are at almost 70% of them that enter our program that successfully graduate," said Captain Doug Hanson who oversees The Salvation Army in Colorado Springs. The bar is set at 65% by the Veterans Administration.
Success is measured with stability, increased income, and the ability to move from program housing into their own home. "Almost all of them that move out into self-sufficiency, it's an apartment complex, but one most recently just bought a house,” said Hanson, “So he left our program to home ownership."
The new funding will reimburse up to $770,000. It means the program can double from just over 20 people served, to 43. The Salvation Army has enough apartment space available to make the expansion happen quickly.
