PRESS
Veterans Legacy and Housing Our Veterans join forces
Memoradum of Agreement
Veterans Legacy Oregon and Housing Our Veterans have joined forces to provide a care continuum for veterans in our community in need of assistance with homelessness, substance abuse and associated mental health issues. The two local non-profits signed of a Memorandum of Agreement on Sept. 7.
Housing Our Veterans, founded by Lorie Perkins in 2005, has been providing housing and various life skills support utilizing a number of living arrangements within the community. Veterans Legacy, founded by Dr. John LeBow, acquired the former Lane County Sheriff’s Forest Inmate Camp in 2016. Since renamed Camp Alma, the campus uses a rural residential setting for care with a multifaceted treatment regimen.
Between the two organizations, over 100 beds will be available for veteran care. Ideally, a Veteran in need will begin care and rehabilitation at Camp Alma for an average stay of six months. He would then sequence into the care at Housing Our Veterans for about one year. This time frame coincides with studies that show that an 18-month concentrated care management paradigm results in a vastly improved success rate for reintegration into the community at large.
Shared goals of returning veterans in need to the community clean and sober with realistic employment potential, stable housing and the need for indefinite case management made the agreement a natural alliance between the two entities. While applicable to male veterans only at present, both organizations agree that an appropriate treatment pathway is needed for female veterans as well, with development to begin in the near future.
