Veteran homelessness is down 55 percent since its peak in 2009
Activists say the end of the issue is near but many wonder why it was an issue in the first place.
By Casey Bacot
According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), from 2010 to 2022, the total number of homeless veterans decreased from 74,000 to 33,000, resulting in a 55% decrease. In 2022, homeless veterans still account for approximately 13% of all homeless adults.
On Oct. 26, HUD released initial results from its Point-in-Time count. The PIT count replaced the Guide to Counting Sheltered Homeless People and the Guide to Counting Unsheltered Homeless People. According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), the PIT count generates data used by congress to determine the current state of homelessness in the US. “The goal of ending homelessness among Veterans is within reach—and in fact is already happening community by community,” according to the VA. The finalized 2022 PIT count will be released in Jan. 2023.
The recent decline directly coincides with the Obama administration’s strategic plan to end homelessness. The “Opening Doors” plan was the nation’s first plan to combat homelessness. It included a specific focus on veteran homelessness. By 2016, the end of President Obama’s term, veteran homelessness had decreased 36%, with cities like New Orleans, Houston, Mobile and Winston-Salem announcing that they put an end to it.
President Biden’s administration also focuses on veteran affairs, including veteran homelessness. The 2023 budget will provide $139 billion for the VA, a $22 billion or 19% increase from 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic put the decrease to a hault with an increase in unemployment rates.
“We kind of stayed stagnant at 40,000 [homeless veterans]. With the pandemic, it just made it more; we’ll probably will see a little influx at some point as well,” said Daryll Vincent, the COO of U.S. VETS.
Many experts and activists agree that the U.S. must continually expand its “Housing First Model.” The model provides permanent housing to those in need before supplying services such as job placements and mental health care.
About 90,000 veterans have received housing using this model. It is being used heavily in states such as Wisconsin, Utah, Texas and California, where it has seen success.
“Housing First costs significantly less than putting people in temporary shelters,” said Deborah Padgett, author of “Housing First: Ending Homelessness, Transforming Systems, and Changing Lives.” She estimates a shelter bed costs taxpayers roughly $3,000 per month, according to News Nation.
While the government has played a role in the decline of veteran homelessness in the past decade, the success is primarily due to the work of private organizations.
“I believe it’s the community’s responsibility to contribute to those who served. That means having foundations and private donors to help augment the funding the government does,” Vincent said. “We all play a role.”
In Washington, DC, Friendship Place is the “premier provider of housing services for people experiencing homelessness.” In 2011, the organization expanded to include the Veterans First Program. This program provides rapid rehousing and homeless prevention services for veterans and their families in the DMV area.
According to Jonathan Whitted, the program’s assistant director, Veterans First has an outstanding success rate. Since its founding, it has “graduated 3,205 people—veterans and their family members. 91% have moved into permanent housing,” according to its website.
“We’ve seen with certain folks that we’ve worked with, either when you follow up with them or when you hear information about how they’re doing, that they’ve been able to retain housing after working with us,” Whitted said.
Friendship Place assists over 500 households annually, including individual and family households. According to Whitted, each household is given care on a case-by-case basis, one of the reasons for the program’s success. Veterans First creates individualized housing stability plans for each household.
“When we’re doing housing stability plays with them, we take into account that the individual has other members of the family,” he said. “It’s very important to include the other members in the family needs, as you’re working towards helping that veteran either get off the streets or make sure they’re able to maintain housing.”
The program has grown since its founding in 2011 due to funding increases and guidance and support from the head of Supportive Services for Veteran Affairs (SSVF).
“I think in our country everybody says that if you serve this country, you should not be experiencing homelessness,” Whitted said. “It’s a different thing in practice.”
The issue of veteran homelessness stems back to problems of homelessness in general– the shortages of affordable housing and livable incomes. In addition, military training and occupations are not usually transferable to the average civilian workforce, putting veterans at a disadvantage. In 2021, 94.2% of Regular Army recruits had a high school diploma, but only 10.4% had at least one semester of college before joining.
“When an individual goes into the military, they had a certain amount of resources, and when they come out, they have those same amounts of resources. The military does a great job of taking care of you while you’re in the military, but depending on your situation, when you come out, you’re still dealing with those same issues that you would have been dealing with before,” Whitted said.
Veteran homelessness is a problem that the support of the government, non-profit organizations and private philanthropists can easily solve, according to Vincent. The current cost of supportive services for people experiencing homelessness costs more than ending it in the long run.
“It’s not a black or white issue, a Democrat or Republican issue, or a gay or straight issue; it’s a human issue,” Vincent said. “I think if you ask any one of those categories, they’ll always say there's no way in the world a veteran should be sleeping on the streets they defended.
