- April 24, 2024
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Too many homeless veterans aren't getting the services they need when they call the hotline. The VHA National Call Center for Homeless Veterans is supposed to provide 24/7 access to support services, programs and trained counselors, coordinate with the Department of Veterans Affairs for services and monitor the referrals, connect veterans to VA and community resources, and much more.
The VA Office of the Inspector General found a lot of holes in the system during a general audit of the call center. Of the approximate 79,000 homeless veterans who called the center:
• 27,000 could only leave a message because counselors weren't available.
• 13,000 could not be referred for service because the message they left was inaudible.
• 3,300 weren't referred to VA medical facilities even after giving all their information.
• 51,000 referrals were made, but the center gave no feedback on the quality of assistance given by the VA, as is required by policy.
• 24,200 referrals were closed with no follow-up, even though the VA medical facilities didn't provide any services.
• There were 40,500 instances where veterans weren't referred to services, or the referral was closed without making sure the veteran received any services.
As always, the devil is in the details. The report documents cases of unaccounted counselor time when they were logged off the system, homeless counselors being used instead for Crisis Line help (and being paid by the call-center budget), calls regularly being forwarded to an answering machine, and staff who weren't monitoring the counselors' time or calls. Here's the big number: Counselors spent 61 percent of their time not talking to homeless veterans.
It seems that many of the policies and guidelines for the call center weren't being followed. To read the sad details in the rest of the 35-page report, see http://1.usa.gov/1AIIKj6
Freddy Groves regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Send email to [email protected]. (c) 2014 King Features Synd. Inc.
