Tag: Veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs issued a proposed rule outlining plans to expand the locations and time frames for which VA presumes exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides. If this proposed rule becomes final, VA will implement a new presumption of exposure to locations where herbicides were tested, used, or stored outside of Vietnam.

As a part of ongoing efforts to end Veteran homelessness, the Department of Veterans Affairs published a Notice of Funding Opportunity for approximately $5 million in grants per year (for up to two years) to help Veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it permanently housed 46,552 homeless Veterans in 2023 — surpassing the calendar year goal to house 38,000 Veterans by 22.5%.

VA announced the availability of $52.5 million in funding for grants to community-based organizations that provide or coordinate suicide prevention services for Veterans and their families — including conducting Veteran mental health screenings, providing case management and peer support services, delivering emergency clinical services, reaching out to Veterans at risk of suicide, and more.

In the first year of VA’s new policy allowing eligible Veterans and certain former service members in acute suicidal crisis to go to any VA or non-VA health care facility for no-cost emergency health care, 49,714 Veterans and former service members have used this benefit — providing them with lifesaving care and saving more than $64 million in health care costs.