Employee Spotlight
February 16, 2023
Alice “Jia” Son, LCSW
Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Director
San Francisco VA Health Care System
Q: How long have you worked for VA?
A: I have worked 10 years with the San Francisco VA Health Care System. My whole career has been at one VA location.
Q: What led you to VA?
A: Prior to moving to San Francisco, I worked at a local nonprofit agency in New York City. I was Program Director of a 24/7 street outreach and housing placement team responsible for lower Manhattan.
This agency was contracted by the New York City Department of Homeless Services to be the lead agency for the Manhattan Outreach Consortium. We were responsible for ending or decreasing chronic homelessness by two-thirds in 5 years. It was a big push by the Mayor at the time and was a new approach for a coordinated system to address chronic homelessness.
My 20-year social work career includes serving and working with chronically homeless adults who have severe and persistent mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders. I also ran a small Safe Haven transitional residence in upper Manhattan.
When I was searching for a new job, HUD-VASH seemed like a perfect fit for me. I applied, got the job, and within about 3 weeks, I moved to San Francisco. It was a big leap of faith, but I was at a time in my life where I felt like a change. The position was something I couldn’t turn down, so I moved for it.
Q: What's your current role with the San Francisco VA Health Care System?
A: My current role is HUD-VASH Director under Social Work Service.
So many things come at me daily – both short-term and long-term projects. I attend a daily huddle with the Social Work Service leadership and directors. I also lead a daily huddle with my team of 8 HUD-VASH supervisors. These administrative meetings are a good way to connect all the different programs and teams at our VA, to coordinate care, and to ensure that staff are being provided with the tools and resources that they need to do their work in the community.
I also clinically support the team. They work with Veterans with significant challenges, and we work to address urgent issues or crises that happen during the day. I'm very lucky that I have such a strong clinical team and team of supervisors. They really handle business.
A big portion of my day is spent collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to improve processes for reaching out to, engaging with, and housing Veterans.
I want to highlight that the importance of the job is not only working internally with the VA, but with the Mayor's Office, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, public housing authorities, local nonprofits, Senators’ offices, etc.
Lastly, I assist with resource development – more specifically, housing development. We just finished a round of reviewing Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Program (VHHP) service plans and connecting with agencies that want to set aside units for HUD-VASH Veterans.
Q: You recently worked with the national HUD-VASH program start a pilot to provide enhanced services HUD-VASH services to aging Veterans. Why was this pilot important?
A: Over the years, our multidisciplinary team has witnessed many HUD-VASH Veterans failing to thrive in independent living. There is a big gap in service for aging Veterans who need a higher level of care than what our program can provide. These Veterans have complex medical issues and often severe cognitive decline. We do the best we can, but ultimately, HUD-VASH does not have the capacity to serve the aging Veteran population in the community.
We have partnered with the Colma Veterans Village to try and fill that gap. With this pilot, we provide independent permanent supportive housing with enhanced on-site services. We have nurses, social workers, peer support specialists, occupational therapists, and will soon have a psychiatric nurse practitioner. We also have a geriatrician and a recreational therapist who come to support.
Our goal is to keep Veterans safe for as long as possible in their homes with wraparound services. It takes a lot of care, coordination, and time. Placement at Colma Veterans Village also allows the team to safely refer and place Veterans into a higher level of care as needed.
Q: What would you say is one of the greatest barriers to ending Veteran homelessness, both in San Francisco and across the country?
A: Specifically for the San Francisco VA, the biggest barrier is not enough affordable housing that is safe and in neighborhoods that Veterans want to live in.
Our team has honed our skills when it comes to providing clinical wraparound services for Veterans and creatively engaging landlords and developers to house HUD-VASH Veterans. But we have been in situations where we just can't find housing, and that's a very frustrating process. In some of our rural counties with very low vacancy rates, we have Veterans with vouchers that have been looking for 8-12 months and, not for a lack of effort, we can't find housing for them.
The second biggest barrier is staffing. It's really challenging to continue the work we do while being short staffed. The high cost of living not only impacts our ability to house Veterans, but also our ability to hire and retain staff.
Q: What brings you the greatest sense of satisfaction and joy as you do this work?
A: Being able to provide services to Veterans – specifically to those who are not engaged in VA services – and help them obtain permanent housing using a Housing First approach.
Many Veterans have said to us that this is the first time in a long time that they've held a key in their hands. Many have said that to be able to close and lock their door behind them and feel safe in their home is priceless to them.
That's what really drives me. I absolutely love the team I work with. I couldn't do what I do as Director without everyone on the team. We support each other during hard times and really care about each other. And that goes a long way. On the flip side, we also laugh and have fun together.
Q: What is your “why” for this work?
A: I love what I do. I'm forever grateful that I found a career in social work. Helping people, working to make change in individuals’ lives, and enacting systemic changes gives me purpose.
I also love coaching the new generation of social workers. We have new social workers as well as peers who went back to school to become social workers. This sense of shared mission, working with like-minded people – that really gives me purpose.
