“The History and Origins of VA’s Domiciliary Care Program” was compiled and written in 2014 by Jamie R. Plopper of VA’s Office of Mental Health and Paul Smits of VA’s National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans. The report traces the evolution of VA’s Domiciliary Care Program from its origins as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) in 1865 to today’s modern Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Programs. On March 3, 1865, the day before his second inauguration, President Abraham Lincoln signed a law to establish a national network of facilities for sick and injured Union Veterans who had served in the Civil War. The NHDVS, established by this legislation, was the first major Federal program to provide medical and rehabilitative services for Veterans, forming the basis of today’s modern VA. The report also explores how rehabilitative and mental health programs have adapted over more than a century through expanding missions and services to meet the changing needs of Veterans.
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