NYC exits VA homeless veterans grant, leaving a Long Island City shelter’s funding unclear

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration will leave a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs program that helps homeless veterans move out of homelessness when the federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, the Department of Homeless Services confirmed. City and federal officials give conflicting reasons for the exit.

The move creates uncertainty about future funding for the Borden Avenue Veterans Residence in Long Island City, a shelter for more than 200 veterans that runs on a mix of federal and city money. The shelter has drawn on the VA’s Grant and Per Diem program for nearly two decades. It was left off the list of grant recipients the VA released last week, when the department announced $318 million in three-year awards to hundreds of organizations nationwide starting next month.

City says the VA required excluding transgender veterans

DHS spokesperson Neha Sharma said the agency did apply. According to Sharma, the VA offered only a small share of past awards and required the city to keep transgender veterans out of VA-funded beds. She said that as a right-to-shelter city, officials decided to keep shelter open to every homeless veteran. She added that services at the site have not been disrupted and that the city is working on next steps.

The city’s right to shelter generally guarantees a bed to anyone who needs one. DHS did not answer follow-up questions about how the VA was supposedly requiring discrimination or whether the agency raised concerns with federal officials.

VA says the homeless veterans grant was about the award size

VA press secretary Quinn Slaven called the city’s claim “false.” He said the VA has limited resources and bases awards on past performance, need and the ability to provide high-quality service. After reviewing the Borden Avenue facility, the VA could not justify a larger award, he said.

The city was told in writing on Aug. 7 that its funding would run out on Sept. 30. That letter came from the top official at the VA’s Veterans Health Administration, who holds the post on an acting basis, and it said DHS had opted against seeking to continue the grant. The VA says the city only made that decision known once federal officials had given it an early estimate of what it could expect in the coming funding cycle. How large the shortfall was remained unclear.