The number of homeless veterans has decreased, continuing a trend that started several years.
The ranks of homeless veterans decreased 5.4 percent in 2018, and is down 50 percent since 2010, according to Annual Homeless Assessment Report from Housing and Urban Development. “We owe it to our veterans to make certain they have a place to call home,” said Carson. “We’ve made great strides in our efforts to end veteran homelessness, but we still have a lot of work to do to ensure those who wore our nation’s uniform have access to stable housing.”
Communities have reported a reduction in the number of homeless veterans living in shelters, or on the streets, noted Ben Carson, secretary of HUD, and Robert Wilkie, secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs.
Each year, thousands of local communities around the country conduct one-night Point-in-Time estimates of the number of persons experiencing homelessness—in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs and in unsheltered locations.
This year’s estimate finds 37,878 veterans experienced homelessness in January 2018, compared to 40,020 in the same time period a year earlier. HUD estimates that 23,312 homeless veterans lived in shelters; while 14, 566 lived in in places that weren’t meant for human habitation.
Also, there was an almost 10 percent decline in female veterans experiencing homelessness. In January 2018, there were 3,219 female veterans that were homeless, compared with 3,571 in the same period a year earlier.
The decrease in veteran homelessness can largely be attributed to the effectiveness of the HUD-VA Supportive Housing Program, combining permanent rental assistance with case management and clinical services provided by the VA. Also, there are programs that use modern tools and technology to identify the most vulnerable veterans and work with them on housing.
More than 4,000 veterans, many suffered from chronic forms of homelessness, found permanent housing and support services through the HUD Vash program. An additional 50,000 veterans found permanent housing and support services through the VA’s continuum of homeless programs.
All told, 64 local communities and three states have declared an effective end to veteran homelessness, creating systems to ensure that a veteran’s homelessness is rare, brief and one-time.
