HUD-VASH Resource Guide for Permanent Housing and Clinical Care was developed to provide a resource for those who serve our country’s most vulnerable and chronically homeless Veterans through the HUD-VASH Program. HUD-VASH is a critical element of the VA’s Five Year Plan to End Veteran Homelessness and of Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. Part 1 of the HUD-VASH Resource Guide for Permanent Housing and Clinical Care is a guide to the program that includes Veteran eligibility, program management, and housing stabilization work with landlords and housing authorities. Part 2 provides an overview of evidence-based practices for HUD- VASH and includes Housing First; coordination with clinical services; understanding trauma and violence; and accessing benefits, education, and employment. Since the issues of housing, mental health, and addiction are interrelated, you will see some overlapping interventions used for simultaneous treatment of a multitude of issues. For example, Motivational Enhancement Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Critical Time Intervention are described in both Part 1 and Part 2. The HUD-VASH Resource Guide for Permanent Housing and Clinical Care is a comprehensive guide to implementing a HUD-VASH program. It covers every aspect of HUD-VASH and related practices and programs. Knowing where to begin may seem overwhelming at first glance. In order to help you approach the Resource Guide in a way that is most useful to you, we have provided the following self- administered quizzes. The quizzes are customized for each of the key VA members of any HUD-VASH team: Supervisors, Case Managers, and Peer Support Specialists. We encourage you to complete the quiz that most closely matches your role on the HUD- VASH team. This will provide you with a baseline for your own understanding of HUD-VASH. Each quiz has an answer key that offers recommended chapters to read. Use these suggested readings to develop your own personalized curriculum. We hope you will find the toolkit useful in your everyday work with your clients and appreciate all of the work that you do to help move homeless Veterans off the streets and into secure and stable housing.
