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(Washington, DC) U.S. Senator Richard Burr, the Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, applauded today the decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to award over $1.5 million to two faith-based organizations in North Carolina to help provide assistance to homeless veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that on any given day, approximately 200,000 veterans are living on the streets or in shelters and as many as 400,000 veterans experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year.

"Helping homeless veterans get off the street is crucial and efforts such as those that will be funded under these grants are an important part of the process. I congratulate the leaders of Community Christian Ministry in Asheville and Lutheran Family Services in Dallas for being chosen for funding by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs," Burr said.

The Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry will receive $1.6 million and the Dallas-based Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas will receive $51,669.

The Asheville grant will enable the local group to acquire a building at 1329 Tunnel Road, Asheville, that will provide 100 beds for homeless veterans.

The grant to the Dallas organization will enable Lutheran Family Services to renovate a building at 842 Dallas-Stanley Highway for transitional housing that will provide seven beds for homeless veterans. Funds will also be used to acquire of a van to provide transportation of homeless veterans to the new building.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates there are 1,600 homeless veterans in the Tar Heel state. Nationwide surveys have found that almost one-third of all homeless men and women, served in uniform at some point in their lives.

The two grants made in North Carolina are part of 46 similar grants that were announced nationwide Thursday by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Earlier this year, Burr introduced legislation to prevent low-income veterans from becoming homeless. The Services to Prevent Veterans Homelessness Act of 2007 (S. 874) was included in S. 1233, which was passed unanimously by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

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