Battle Creek VA Medical Center helps secure housing for more than 300 homeless veterans in 2022

Greyson Steele, Battle Creek Enquirer
·2 min read

BEDFORD TWP. — As part of a nationwide effort to house 38,000 homeless veterans, the Battle Creek Veterans Affairs Medical Center successfully secured permanent housing for 308 homeless veterans in 2022.

Permanent housing placements provided by VA staff and community partners included apartments or houses that veterans could rent or own, often with a subsidy to help make the housing affordable, VA officials said in a release. VA staff also helped some veterans end their homelessness by reuniting them with family and friends.

Overall, VA health care systems across America successfully housed 40,401 Veterans last year, meeting and exceeding the national goal by more than 6.3%.

“This goal was achieved through the hard work and dedication of our VA Battle Creek homeless programs staff, our grantees and contractors and our valued community partners,” Battle Creek VA Medical Center Director Michelle Martin said in a statement. “The progress we’re seeing with veteran homelessness in West and Southwest Michigan shows that we have the right solutions to end homelessness for all veterans we care for."

The estimated number of veterans experiencing homelessness in America has declined by 55.3% since 2010, VA officials said.

An aerial view of the Battle Creek Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford Charter Township, which spans 206 acres and consists of 30 buildings.
An aerial view of the Battle Creek Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford Charter Township, which spans 206 acres and consists of 30 buildings.

First opened in 1924, the Battle Creek VA Medical Center briefly appeared on the chopping block in 2022 in a controversial plan that would have closed 35 VA Medical Centers in 21 states.

In March, the Department of Veterans Affairs recommended to the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission that inpatient and outpatient services should move from the Battle Creek VAMC to the Grand Rapids/Wyoming area.

The closure of the center, on 206 acres in Bedford Charter Township, would have been part of a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that included the closure of major hospitals, replacement of VA medical centers, and construction of more than 10 new facilities.

A bipartisan group of a dozen U.S. senators — particularly those in states facing VA Medical Center closures — subsequently opposed the AIR Commission process, saying its recommendations would be especially bad for veterans who lived in rural areas.

Members of the House of Representatives then voted to defund the commission, effectively killing the process.

Contact reporter Greyson Steele at gsteele@battlecreekenquirer.com

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: More than 300 homeless veterans secure 2022 housing with help of Battle Creek VA