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Fairweather Lodges for Veterans — Permanent Shared Housing With Work

Veteran lodges in four Pennsylvania counties: permanent shared housing where members run the household together and work through outside jobs, volunteering, or a business the lodge itself operates.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Veteran lodges in four Pennsylvania counties: permanent shared housing where members run the household together and work through outside jobs, volunteering, or a business the lodge itself operates.

What it's worth: Permanent shared housing, peer support and employment — no cost figure is published

  • The Department describes what the lodge provides — emotional support, a place to live, and employment for its members — but publishes no rent, no fee and no subsidy figure on the page.
  • Nor does it publish the number of places. Four counties with lodges housing veterans is a small programme, so availability rather than value is the binding question.

Who is entitled to it

  • You are the veteran.
  • Your home is in Pennsylvania.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Check geography first. The Department states that lodges housing veterans are established in Venango, Centre, Cumberland and Lawrence counties.
  2. 2Write to OMHSAS at RA-PWOMHSAS-Housing@pa.gov to ask about a place and about how referrals are made.
  3. 3Understand the model before you apply. A lodge is permanent shared housing run collectively by its members with minimal staff oversight — not a supervised facility and not transitional housing.
  4. 4Expect work to be part of it. Members are employed through outside jobs, volunteer work, or a business the lodge itself operates, and that is central to the model rather than an add-on.
  5. 5Ask your county mental health office in parallel. The lodges sit inside the county behavioural health system, and the county is often the faster route to a referral.
  6. 6If no lodge covers your county, ask OMHSAS what the nearest equivalent is rather than assuming there is nothing — the same office runs the wider housing programmes.
File with
Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThis is permanent housing, not a transitional programme with an exit date. That is the point of the Fairweather model, and it is a different proposition from the two-year transitional programmes veterans are usually offered.
Worth knowingOnly four counties are named as having lodges that house veterans. A veteran outside Venango, Centre, Cumberland or Lawrence should ask OMHSAS what exists nearer to them before travelling.
Known gapThe Department states no eligibility criteria on this page — no discharge test, no diagnosis test, no income test — and no cost to the member. All of that has to come from OMHSAS or the county before a veteran can judge whether a place is realistic.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.