Serving Those Who Served
The Montana Veterans Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is designed to assist homeless veterans, or veterans at risk of homelessness, to improve their quality of life. We provide comprehensive support, which enables veterans to achieve greater self-sufficiency and self-determination.

The United States Code contains the official federal definition of homeless.
In Title 42, Chapter 119, Subchapter I, homeless is defined as:

§11302. General definition of homeless individual
(a) In general
The term "homeless" or "homeless individual or homeless person" includes—

1. an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and
2. an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is —
1. a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);
2. an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or
3. a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

In the News...

Are you homeless or at risk? If you or a loved one is at risk of becoming homeless, or is currently experiencing homelessness, we may be able to help.

Increasing Homeless Rates 'Alarming' Number of homeless families with children is on the rise across the country. More families with children are becoming homeless as they face mounting economic pressures, including mortgage foreclosures, according to a USA TODAY survey of a dozen of the largest cities in the nation. Montana has also seen sharp increases in the number of families experiencing homelessness or at high risk for becoming homeless. Click to learn more.

DAV applauds Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in addressing the unique needs of our women veterans by introducing the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act next week. Disabled American Veterans Hails Historic Legislation Addressing Health Care Needs...

Disabled American Veterans get responses from Presidential Candidates Curious where the Presidential candidates stand on veterans issues? The DAV sent specific questions pertaining to veterans' issues to both Presidential candidates. Click to read their responses.

New York Times report: traumatic brain injury oven overlooked in returning war veterans Former Staff Sgt. Kevin Owsley is not quite sure what rattled his brain in 2004: the roadside bomb that exploded about a yard from his Humvee or the rocket-propelled grenade that flung him across a road as he walked to a Porta Potti on base six weeks late But more than three years after coming home, Mr. Owsley’s days have been irrevocably changed by the explosions. He struggles to unscramble his memory and thoughts. He often gets lost on the road, even with directions. He writes all his appointments down but still forgets a few. He wears a hearing aid, cannot bear sunlight on his eyes, still succumbs to nightmares and considers four hours of sleep a night a gift. Mr. Owsley is part of a growing tide of combat veterans who come home from Iraq and Afghanistan with mild traumatic brain injuries, or concussions, caused by powerful explosions. As many as 300,000, or 20 percent, of combat veterans who regularly worked outside the wire, away from bases, have suffered at least one concussion, according to the latest Pentagon estimates. About half the soldiers get better within hours, days or several months and require little if any medical assistance. But tens of thousands of others have longer-term problems that can include, to varying degrees, persistent memory loss, headaches, mood swings, dizziness, hearing problems and light sensitivity. These symptoms, which may be subtle and may not surface for weeks or months after their return, are often debilitating enough to hobble lives and livelihoods. To this day, some veterans — it is impossible to know how many — remain unscreened, their symptoms undiagnosed. Mild brain injury was widely overlooked by the military and the veterans health system until recently.

Shinseki to lead Veterans Affairs President-elect Barack Obama introduces retired Army Gen. Eric K. Shinseki as his nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, bringing to his Cabinet a career military officer best known for running afoul of the Bush administration by questi With this appointment, Obama brings to his Cabinet a career military officer best known for running afoul of the Bush administration by questioning the Pentagon's Iraq war strategy.

Petition to the President and Congress to stand up for our veterans Make your opinion count! More than 300,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), severe depression and other conditions that could require a lifetime of care. Yet the federal government is not providing sufficient, timely, and predictable funding to treat their visible and invisible wounds of war. Uncertainty about funding due to political wrangling could block thousands of veterans from receiving the health care they deserve.