The families of homeless veterans need extra attention.
That's one of the findings of a summit Friday morning to address the needs of homeless veterans in Central Florida.
The summit brought together agencies like the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness, the Orlando VA Medical Center and the Coalition for the Homeless.
U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who organized the meeting, said he wanted to find out where there’s a need for better services:
“We have a program through [the Department of Housing and Urban Development] which has vouchers for veterans," said Mica.
"They give them a voucher and they can go and get their own housing, but there are very few of those vouchers available and a great need, so we found a couple of areas this morning we need to much better on.”
Mica said there’s also a gap in services for homeless veterans’ families.
"There’s some houses, some accommodation, but you can’t take a family into a domiciliary unit," he said.
He said the new VA hospital which is opening in stages at Lake Nona will boost the level of support for veterans- particularly those who are both homeless and have medical issues.
The new VA hospital’s domiciliary ward provides round the clock care for veterans with medical and mental illnesses and addictions.
A spokesperson for the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida said the new men's service center has provided services for 128 homeless veterans since it opened its doors last June.