VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.






Be sure to get all four
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
House CVA
Veterans' News
Senate CVA
Veterans' News
VA Press
Releases
 

Download your
free copy of the
2008 VA benefits
handbook here...
 

Printer-Friendly Version

VETS' HOUSING PROGRAM CAUGHT IN FUNDING DISPUTE

AS ACCUSATIONS ABOUND -- Said of nonprofit agency:

"These people are just outlaws...I can smell a crook.

These people are just not right, and the public

needs to be protected from them."

Stephen Higgenbotham, left, reads, as Frederick Keys wipes off the table in a home they stay in provided by Veterans Service Center. The center has not been able to pay the rent. (photo: Greg Williamson / The Leaf-Chronicle)

Story here... http://www.theleafchronicle.com
/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080719/NEWS
01/807190331/1002/news01

Story below:

-------------------------

Vets caught in funding battle

By JAKE LOWARY
The Leaf-Chronicle

A dispute between two agencies hoping to help war veterans might leave four of those veterans in a familiar state: homeless.

A judge will decide whether to evict the men after one of the agencies failed to pay rent for the homes in which the veterans live.

The Veterans Service Center, a local nonprofit designed to help veterans find shelter and employment, has been summoned to court on Aug. 20 to answer claims that VSC owes Buffalo Valley Inc. $25,000 in unpaid rent and hasn't provided eligibility information.

BVI, based in Hohenwald, Tenn., provides alcohol and drug abuse treatment in addition to low-cost housing — known as Valley Housing — that also shelters homeless people.

Frederick Keys, 54, a Vietnam War veteran, defended VSC, saying that when he and a friend needed help, VSC answered the call.

"Nobody is feeding us; nobody is helping us but VSC," Keys said. "We've been fed by VSC, we've been housed by VSC, and they assist us in every way. And it's been rough because they've been doing it without any funding," Keys said.

Search for backers

VSC was created by Kevin Johnson, a retired Army veteran of 24 years, last November with the idea of helping brain-injured, homeless and disabled war veterans find shelter, food and other assistance they need to help transition into a successful civilian life.

Johnson also heads up the Clarksville Regional Minority Business Center, a "for-profit business consulting center offering minority- and women-owned businesses personalized service that may increase their chances to bid on and receive contracts and subcontracts," according to the Web site.

Since VSC's inception, it's been nothing short of a battle to keep the doors open. Funding has been a significant problem, so much so that Johnson said he's been running the center out of his own pocket.

"We have pretty much funded the operation ourselves," Johnson said.

Johnson said he's used about $25,000 out-of-pocket and invoiced about $1.5 million in services to this point — money he said hasn't been reimbursed.

VSC has sought funding primarily through two avenues: government grants and federal reimbursement for services to veterans.

How we got here

To get VSC off the ground, it entered into a memorandum of understanding with Buffalo Valley to allow VSC's veteran-clients to live in five homes around Clarksville under the supervision of VSC because of what VSC called an emergency.

Enoch Hagans, VSC's grants coordinator, said they found three veterans who were near death because of freezing temperatures early this year, and they needed immediate care for the men.

When veterans come into the program, they are encouraged to find a job and find any medical attention and rehabilitation they might require, Johnson said.

They also have to follow requirements in an approved "California Plan," according to Johnson. The requirements include a 10 p.m. curfew and a prohibition on cooking within the home.

"The main goal is provide a safe, secure environment," Johnson said.

'I can smell a crook'

According to Buffalo Valley Executive Director Jerry Risner, there is a detailed history between the two organizations about who should pay for the homes in which the veterans live.

Risner, also a retired Army veteran, said there is something fishy about the way Johnson and his colleagues do business.

"These people are just outlaws," Risner said. "I've been in this business for 25 years and most of the time I can smell a crook. These people are just not right, and the public needs to be protected from them."

Risner's said his biggest complaint is that Johnson and his colleagues are after government funding and grants without going through the necessary paperwork.

"They just want (government agencies) to send them some money, and that's not how the grant process works," Risner said.

Johnson insists he's not an outlaw.

He said he and the VSC staff do draw salaries, but because of the lack of grant funding, they have not been paid.

Buffalo Valley is simply doing its job, he said.

"I think that (Buffalo Valley) is just going through their administrative process," Johnson said. "If someone does not pay, they go through the stages."

But Johnson also said Buffalo Valley should consider what it is trying to accomplish.

"For someone to try and take action to get veterans out (of the homes) ... I think (Buffalo Valley) has to consider the consequences," Johnson said.

Who should pay?

Buffalo Valley manages between 30 and 35 HUD-owned homes in Clarksville, Risner said.

Part of the agreement between Buffalo Valley and VSC stipulates that the Department of Defense or Department of Veterans Affairs or another federal agency would pay for the lease through VSC.

The money would flow through VSC to Buffalo Valley, minus the nonprofit's operational expenses. Buffalo Valley now intends to collect those costs from VSC through legal action.

According to the summons, VSC is accused of "unlawfully detaining a certain real property" and is asked to "answer the above complaint and claim for rents."

The summons also states that VSC and Buffalo Valley had agreed in a lease that VSC "would prepare and submit tenant information to (Buffalo Valley) officials and maintain and collect rents from the appropriate federal agencies to be paid to (Buffalo Valley)."

According to a June 24 letter to VSC from Mary Wilson, director of the Office of Community Planning and Development in Knoxville, VSC did not meet the stipulations in the contract.

"Included in those provisions were providing (Buffalo Valley) with proper documentation to verify eligibility of the occupants ... and to make lease payments. Failure to comply with that agreement could lead to its termination by (Buffalo Valley) and result in (Buffalo Valley) taking possession of the units. This is the current stage of the arrangements," Wilson wrote.

Johnson said VSC has no intention of providing the requested information to Buffalo Valley because he said it's confidential and releasing it could result in him being jailed.

Risner said that information is necessary to maintain a relationship with HUD and continue to house the veterans.

"We don't know if they are homeless. We don't know what they are," he said.

'No one wants to pay'

The biggest problem, Hagans said, is it takes the Department of Veterans Affairs up to 18 months to register a veteran in its programs, which prevents them from being deemed disabled to some degree and also prevents payments to VSC. Hagans said the VA indicated it wouldn't pay until the veterans had been fully processed.

Johnson claims that money for the rent was supposed to come from other federal agencies. In a May 8 e-mail addressed to BVI officials, including Risner, Johnson insisted the Department of Defense and Department of Human Services would pay for the rent once he forwarded to them the Buffalo Valley invoices.

"We have been ensured by these federal agencies that payment will be rendered," Johnson wrote.

Hagans said there have been numerous telephone conversations where one federal agency says another is responsible for payment.

"That's the bottom line is no one wants to pay," he said.

In March, two letters were addressed to Johnson from the Tennessee Department of Human Services and the Tennessee Department of Health. Both letters indicated there was no funding available for the VSC program.

Grants not granted

According to March 13 e-mail correspondence between Buffalo Valley, VSC, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Rita Arancibia, director of the city's Office of Housing and Community Development, Johnson and Hagans had not actually applied for any local grants.

"The completed grant applications from nonprofit agencies were due in our office on Friday, Feb. 8, 2008, by 4:30 pm. (Neither) Mr. Hagans nor Mr. Johnson supplied this office with a grant application by the deadline. This office has not received an application from either Mr. Johnson or Mr. Hagans to date. The grant cycle for (Community Development Block Grant) funds for the City of Clarksville is currently closed," Arancibia's e-mail reads.

When asked to comment on the matter, Arancibia declined.

Hagans claims, though, that he applied for grants but hasn't received fair treatment.

"It's big government doing what they want to do when they know what they are doing isn't right," Hagans said.

Specifically, Hagans said he requested a packet of information on the HUD Continuum of Care program that included an application. Hagans claimed Arancibia and the city dragged their feet in getting VSC the application, and he didn't receive the box of information until the day after the application period ended.

Johnson said, though, that since a new fiscal year began July 1, he and the VSC expect to be awarded grants and other funding to maintain the services they provide and recoup some of the expenses.

But according to correspondence from HUD, VSC must first participate in that Continuum of Care process. As of March 12, VSC had not participated in that process, according to Mary Wilson, director of the Office of Community Planning and Development in Knoxville.

Continuum of Care is a HUD program designed to provide housing to homeless people and prevent homelessness.

"As always, the eligibility of the organization and the activity must be verified, and this is done through the submission an application and supporting documentation to the local Continuum for consideration," Wilson wrote. "As you can see, this is a thorough and detailed process, and funding is not automatic or guaranteed."

Struggling on

In spite of the long list of hurdles the VSC has encountered, they say they will continue to do the work they have been doing for the last seven months.

"We're not going to close. We're going to do everything we can to help these men," Hagans said.

Johnson is looking to a brighter future for VSC that doesn't rely on Buffalo Valley.

"We would rather have our own buildings and our own houses," Johnson said, so they can "avoid squabbles" such as this in the future.

-------------------------

posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org

Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)

Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage

email Larry

(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page)

       
Military Medical Malpractice 
Legal Network               

VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.