In 2014, President Barack Obama challenged America’s mayors to help end a shameful symbol of the nation’s broken promises to those who fought for the homeland but don’t have a home to call their own after returning to civilian life.
In 2014, President Barack Obama challenged America’s mayors to help end a shameful symbol of the nation’s broken promises to those who fought for the homeland but don’t have a home to call their own after returning to civilian life. To that end, the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness had a goal as lofty as its title. There was already some progress on that front since 2010, thanks to the initiative of individual mayors who grew weary of waiting for the federal government to make it happen.
With a strategic plan generated by the White House and undergirded by a partnership between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veteran Affairs in place, ending veteran homelessness no longer looks like a utopian fantasy. That’s why the Obama administration called upon the nation’s mayors to be as committed to this effort as the White House and the two federal agencies tasked with making it a reality.
According to the latest report about this effort, the rate of homeless vets has dropped 47 percent in America since 2010. The shrinking population of homeless veterans accelerated downward once the White House, HUD and the VA made it a priority in 2014. Since then, more than 360,000 veterans, including their families, have directly benefited from HUD and VA programs that didn’t exist in 2010. Across the country, there are less than 40,000 homeless veterans with 13,000 still on the street. While that is still an unacceptably high number, it is down considerably from six years ago.
Currently, New Orleans and Houston have bragging rights for being among the first major cities in the nation to have ended veteran homelessness. In these cities, homeless vets are placed in stable, sanitary and safe housing within 30 days. If other social services are needed from addiction counseling to mental health, then resources are provided at the local level. The goal is to get a roof over the head of every veteran so that whatever other help is needed, there is solid foundation for success. This is both cost-effective and enhances the dignity of the soldier early on.
Even while veterans are being spared the cruel indignities of the street, attention to the issue of general homelessness shouldn’t be swept aside. What we’re learning from programs like the Mayors Challenge should be applied to other homeless populations as well. Other kinds of federal-local partnerships should be forged to bring those numbers down across the board.
