Homelessness Among Veterans Drops Sharply

Targeted efforts to assist unhoused U.S. veterans seem to be working, reports Leo Shane III for Military Times, as the number of vets experiencing homelessness fell by 11 percent over the last two years.

According to Shane’s article, “Since 2010 — when President Barack Obama announced a new focus on ending veterans homelessness — the number has dropped by more than 55% (from 76,329). However, from 2016 to 2020, improvement in the numbers was largely flat, falling only about 6% over the four-year span.” Shane adds that “Officials did not release any data on the geographic location of the remaining homeless veterans or information about their race, gender or other demographics. That detail is expected to be made public in coming days.”

Official HUD data for homelessness across the board has not been released yet, but experts “familiar with the data said that the rate of improvement among veterans outpaced that of the general population.” While this news is encouraging, Shane points out that “the results of the annual national Point-in-Time count still show about 33,000 veterans across the country without reliable housing options.”