More than 38,000 veterans across the country who were homeless at the beginning of 2023 now have homes of their own. That’s after a push by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to reduce homelessness among people who’ve served in the military — and it’s a milestone the VA hit two months ahead of schedule.
In North Texas, 764 previously unhoused veterans moved into long-term housing this year. In the Houston area, 820 did. Among the rest of the VA regions in the state, another 1,320 veterans were housed.
“The words veteran and homeless should not exist together,” said Monica Diaz, executive director for the Homeless Veterans Program within the VA.
The efforts at the VA are part of a wider Biden Administration plan, rolled out last year, to reduce homelessness nationwide, which has included increased funding and technical assistance to Dallas and other cities.
Key to success
Nationwide, veteran homelessness fell from 2020 to 2022 by 11%, the latest year for which data is available. Before the pandemic, veteran homelessness in Texas had fallen 65% between 2007 and 2020.
Diaz said using a housing-first approach is a key to the VA’s success. That strategy focuses on finding veterans experiencing homelessness a place to live while also connecting them to the services and programs that will help them stay in their home for the long term.
“The approach is not trying to determine who is housing ready, or demanding treatment prior to housing. Instead, treatment and services are wrapped around the veteran as they obtain permanent housing,” she said.
Studies have shown that, once a person has a roof over their heads, they’re better able to stabilize their lives by addressing health challenges or completing programs that’ll help them get a better job. Earlier efforts often conditioned housing on a person tackling these challenges — by getting sober, for example — while still unhoused in order to get a place to live.
Diaz said the agency has also been improving case management and working to better integrate services so vets don’t lose needed help because of confusing bureaucracies. The department is also working more closely with local agencies on the ground, she said.
At the same time, she said finding enough affordable housing for veterans is a continuing struggle, and called on landlords to take in veterans who’ve experienced homelessness.
Last year, the VA housed more than 40,000 veterans experiencing homelessness, and the agency’s data show the vast majority — over 96% of them — remained housed for at least a year. Of those that fell back into homelessness, most were able to be quickly re-housed, the department said in a press release.
In addition to housing vets more quickly, the department is also working to prevent homelessness, said Shawn Liu, director of communications for the Homeless Programs Office at the VA. Last year, the department helped nearly 18,000 vets at imminent risk of homelessness stay housed.
“We can keep housing veterans all the livelong day but if more veterans keep becoming homeless, then we’re just walking in place,” Liu said
More resources are helping, too: The Biden Administration stepped up the number of housing vouchers and has targeted federal grant money to help curb veteran homelessness.
Challenges
But, Liu said, the end of pandemic policies and programs have made it harder for vets who are struggling, and more challenging for people who work to prevent or end homelessness. That includes not just protections like eviction moratoria and housing assistance funds, but also greater flexibility given to all sorts of programs to keep people from losing vital services during the pandemic.
“We do have more resources, but we also have more unique challenges coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Liu said.
Still, there are often more resources available to help veterans than people without military experience. There are programs that specifically help veterans access housing, education and job training. The VA runs the largest integrated health care system in the nation. There are even enhanced protections from predatory financial services for veterans.
However, these programs are mostly open only to veterans who were honorably discharged, and veterans disproportionately experience homelessness, despite declines in recent years.
Diaz said stigma about asking for also prevents some veterans from connecting with programs to help them keep from losing their homes, or from getting out of homelessness.
“Our desire is for them to reach out immediately when they’re at risk of being evicted so we can start immediately having that conversation… [to figure out] what are the right services that we need to put in place so they don’t fall into homelessness,” Diaz said.
Veterans who are facing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness can access a suite of programs and services to end or avoid losing their homes, either through thenational call center or other systems like a VA hospital.
Got a tip? Christopher Connelly is KERA's One Crisis Away Reporter, exploring life on the financial edge. Email Christopher at cconnelly@kera.org. You can follow Christopher on Twitter @hithisischris.
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