News Crew Took On VA for Homeless Veteran and Won

Veteran gets home through VA program after WBTV investigation
WBTV 3 News
Nick Ochsner
December 28, 2017

ASHEVILLE, NC (WBTV) -

A once-homeless veteran has a home of his own, months after a WBTV investigation questioned why the US Department of Veterans Affairs refused to offer the veteran further assistance.

In September, WBTV first talked with Greg Armento. 

At the time, Armento was being made to leave a long-term living facility for homeless veterans operated by an Asheville charity. The facility was paid to provide Armento food and shelter through a VA-funded program known as grant Per Diem, which pays a facility daily to shelter homeless veterans.

Armento filed a federal lawsuit against the organization that runs the Asheville shelter earlier in 2017, claiming supervisors at the facility violated federal labor laws by forcing Armento to perform unpaid labor.

The facility has denied those claims.

In September, when Armento was being forced from the long-term shelter, social workers at the Asheville VA Medical Center had told Armento they would not be able to help him find additional housing and, instead, suggested he plan to say at an emergency shelter overnight.

But that changed after WBTV’s investigation.

Instead of being forced onto the streets, the VA paid for Armento to stay in a hotel while he searched for a new place to live.

Now, Armento is living in a one bedroom apartment paid for through a program known as HUD-VASH. The program is a partnership between the VA and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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