Homelessness

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs continued their effort to end homelessness among military veterans this week by committing $43 million to find permanent homes for homeless veterans.

HUD and the VA will provide the money to 325 local public housing agencies across the country to provide a permanent home to more than 5,200 homeless veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs appears to be backtracking on its divisive plan to reallocate nearly a half-billion dollars from a successful program to reduce homelessness among former military personnel, bowing to pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups who criticized the effort as cruel and counterproductive.

Efforts to fight homelessness among the veteran community appear to be paying off: The number of homeless veterans was down 40% in 2016 from five years ago, according to the most recent data from Housing and Urban Development.

As of January 2016, 39,471 veterans are still homeless. Of these, 13,067 homeless veterans are also unsheltered – living on the streets, in abandoned buildings and cars.

WASHINGTON — The new Veterans Affairs administration is backing off the department’s 7-year-old target of reaching zero homeless veterans across America, but insists they aren’t giving up on the cause. 

In an interview with Military Times this week, VA Secretary David Shulkin said he no longer sees zero as “the right goal” for his department’s efforts, and instead is focused on cutting the current number of homeless veterans down from about 40,000 to somewhere below 15,000.