An Ongoing Mission

In the March 2015, Mesa Mayor John Giles signed on to a nationwide challenge to end Veteran’s Homelessness in Mesa. He was joined by Mesa Councilmember Chris Glover and Mesa Councilmember Kevin Thompson who formed a “Housing Our Heroes Task Force,” made up of City of Mesa staff and many local and regional agencies. The role of the Task Force is to marshal its collective resources in order to provide priority and focus to:

• Identify and re-establish trust with our homeless Vets (especially our chronically homeless who may be struggling with disabling conditions)
• Remove barriers in order to quickly obtain permanent housing (Housing First Model)
• Ensure each Veteran has access to the healthcare and support services they are eligible for and need in order to successfully remain in their new home
• Maximize federal dollars and resources available
• Establish a long-term, local approach that will continue independently and be sustained indefinitely, despite changes in local leadership.

Task Force Partner Agencies

1. Senator John McCain’s Office
2. Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema’s Office
3. Congressman Matt Salmon’s Office
4. U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs,
5. Phoenix VA—Community Resource & Referral Center
6. U.S. Housing and Urban Development
7. U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
8. Arizona Department Veteran Services
9. Maricopa County Continuum of Care
10. Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness
11. Arizona Coalition for Military Families
12. Cloudbreak Communities
13. Community Bridges, Inc.
14. U.S. Vets
15. Paz de Cristo
16. Marc Center
17. A New Leaf
18. Save the Family/UMOM
19. LaFonterra Rally Point
20. Mesa Post Veterans Foreign Wars
21. Mesa Post Disabled American Veterans
22. United Way
23. Mesa Chamber of Commerce
24. City of Mesa -- Mayor and Council Offices, City Manager’s Office, Community Services (Housing, Diversity), Police, Fire & Medical, Mesa Court

How You Can Help

Reducing Homelessness

Help us make sure that every Veteran in Mesa and the east valley has a roof over his/her head. If you can, please donate to this program: Mesa Housing Our Heroes Finance Dept. at 480-831-7566, Ext. 5097. While Mesa is close to meeting our goals of reducing Veteran’s Homelessness, we know this will be an ongoing program that must continue and be sustained long-term. Please help us do this important work.

While there are local, state and federal resources being invested in our Veterans, we always have “gaps” where private dollars are helpful. For example, we typically have funds to help our Vets get into housing, but fall short in costs for utility down payments, background searches—or simply providing some basic household furnishings so that the Veteran is moving into a “home.” Thank you for helping us ensure Mesa’s Veteran Heroes have a place to call home.

Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents.
They can be downloaded by clicking on the icons below.

Acrobat Reader Windows Media Player Word Viewer Excel Viewer PowerPoint Viewer