Turner House

Post date: Jul 05, 2016 2:7:54 PM

Please note that Turner House is closing as of 9/31:

Turner House Living Center for Veterans in Williamstown, MA will be ending current operations as of September 30, 2016. For 20 years, Turner House has been a highly successful transitional home for homeless veterans, funded on a Grant and Per Diem basis by the Veterans Administration. In recent years the VA has intensified their initiatives to ensure that every veteran has a home and that no veteran be homeless. To accomplish this ambitious goal, the VA has changed its focus from homeless shelters/transitional housing to providing permanent housing.

When Turner House was founded, the model was to stabilize a homeless veteran in a shelter such as Turner House and then transition him or her to permanent housing. Now the VA's goal is to take a homeless veteran off the street and place him or her immediately into permanent housing. To achieve this goal the VA has shifted funding and resources away from facilities such as Turner House, thus reducing the number of reimbursable beds at Turner House to a level below our break-even point.

While it is disappointing to close Turner House, this is also a celebration of Turner House's successful history and a celebration of the success of the VA's goal to end veteran homelessness. When Turner House began housing veterans in 1996, there was an estimate of 50 homeless veterans in Northern Berkshire County and there were only about 30 transitional beds for veterans statewide and 600 nationally. Today there are over 15,000 transitional beds available nationally and fortunately very few local veterans in need of housing. We are proud at Turner House to have served over 300 veterans over the years and remain committed to serving veterans' needs. Many individuals and organizations in the community have been instrumental in accomplishing this through donations and volunteer work. Together we have offered a unique opportunity for homeless veterans. We are not going away. In the coming months Turner House will develop a strategy on how we can continue to serve veterans in need.

The Board of Directors - Turner House Living Center for Veterans

Met with Scott Haskell, Executive Director, earlier this spring and anticipated this as the funding/business model has changed. Have offered assistance to Board in considering next steps and how the Town can support.