Adding a homelessness prevention program to its repertoire of services for military veterans will round out the Salvation Army of El Paso County’s reach and reduce the county’s number of homeless veterans, its leader said Wednesday.

“There’s no reason any veteran should live on the streets or go hungry,” said Capt. Doug Hanson, who oversees the local Salvation Army church and its outreach programs. “The community should know that our veterans are being cared for.”

The Salvation Army has received $1.35 million from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to provide the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program, he said.

It’s the third organization to offer the program locally but the only one focused on El Paso County. Rocky Mountain Human Services, which serves Colorado’s Front Range, and Volunteers of America, a statewide assistance organization, also receive VA funding to administer Supportive Services for Veteran Families.

The expanded services target veterans and their families before they become homeless and quickly rehouse those who have become homeless and help them get stabilized.

The funding is guaranteed for two years and is paying for nine employees. Hanson estimates the program could help up to 150 veterans and their families per year.

The addition makes the Salvation Army one of the largest veterans’ service providers in the county, he said.

El Paso County had 265 homeless veterans in February, according to a dashboard of the homeless population.

A ribbon cutting to launch the program will be held Thursday at 117 Rio Grande St. A $150,000 renovation has turned the former medical clinic into an office for the new veterans’ services.

Case managers who specialize in housing and health care will work with getting veterans and their families back on their feet, such as paying half their rent for six months, Hanson said.

“It’ll allow us to respond to veterans’ needs faster, with the right level of support that’ll still motivate them through the tough time,” he said.

The building is just around the corner from the Salvation Army’s Family Hope Center, a shelter for homeless families.

The Salvation Army also runs a 16-bed shelter for single male veterans who are homeless in a separate building on the campus at Sierra Madre and Rio Grande streets.

And at its headquarters at 908 Yuma St., 46 veterans and their families live in a sober-living apartment complex, which opened in 2017.

Those programs are funded under a federal grants per diem emergency sheltering program; the local effort is  rated top in the state, exiting 78% of participants to self-sufficiency, Hanson said.

The additional supportive services arm came about because the Salvation Army was referring a lot of homeless veterans to the other two local agencies that provide such case management, he said.

“We thought why don’t we have that program?” Hanson said. “It started out as a mini version of SSVF (Supportive Services for Veteran Families) and now is substantial. There’s a great synergy developing.”