As noted by the Department of Veteran Affairs, even one veteran without safe and stable housing is too many. Ron Littlefield calls for cities to move beyond studies and seek ways to aid returned veterans.
Ron Littlefield, former mayor of Chatanooga and a senior fellow with the Governing Institute, details the ongoing challenge of housing and caring for the country's veterans.
"A number of the municipalities in the City Accelerator initiative identified homelessness among the short list of critical urban issues affecting their communities. It is unquestionably a major problem across the United States," writes Littlefield.
Littlefield goes on to cite recent coverage of efforts to aid homeless veterans, including a series on NPR that focused, among other programs, on San Diego's "Stand Down," a free event offering health, dental and personal care for veterans.
As for why veteran homelessness is an especially acute challenge for cities, Littlefield quotes the following: "The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reports that homeless veterans mostly live in cities and suffer from mental illness, substance abuse or the lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The challenging statistics are presented in The Wall Street Journal article, 'Veterans Try New Approaches to Heal the Wounds of War,' which notes that in 2012, the VA spent more than $3 billion on PTSD treatment and the Pentagon spent about $294 million more."
FULL STORY: Homeless Veterans' Sacrifices Merit Special Attention

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

California High-Speed Rail's Plan to Right Itself
The railroad's new CEO thinks he can get the project back on track. The stars will need to align this summer.

Washington Passes First US ‘Shared Streets’ Law
Cities will be allowed to lower speed limits to 10 miles per hour and prioritize pedestrians on certain streets.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units
Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

USDOT Could Pull Federal Funding for New York
The federal government gave the state until May 21 to end new York City’s congestion pricing program or risk losing federal funding and project approvals.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions