Veterans News

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) strives to prevent and resolve veteran homelessness and also announced its goals for 2023. In 2023, the VA aims to achieve the following goals:

The Department of VA aims to move 38,000 homeless veterans into permanent housing.

It also makes sure that 95% of the veterans who shifted to permanent housing do not return to homelessness. Even if any veteran becomes homeless, the VA will strive to rehouse or provide a path to rehousing for at least 90% of them by the end of 2023.

Be in contact with at least 28,000 unsheltered veterans, and help them secure housing and essential support services. By doing so, there will be an increase of over 10% compared to the number of unsheltered veterans in 2022.

In addition to this, the VA has also outlined specific goals for combating homelessness among veterans in the Los Angeles area. The Department of Veteran Affairs provided around 1,301 permanent housing placements to homeless veterans. VA plans to supplement this achievement by taking the following measures in 2023:

Provide a minimum of 1,500 permanent housing placements for formerly homeless veterans.
Host Interaction sessions with at least 1,888 unsheltered veterans to help them obtain housing and wraparound services.

The VAs follow the “housing first” approach and prioritize offering housing to veterans along with wraparound support they need such as healthcare, job training, and legal and education assistance.

In 2022, the VA exceeded its goal by placing over 40,000 homeless veterans into permanent housing. Unfortunately, out of the 40,401 veterans housed, 2,443 experienced homelessness again at some point during the year. Fortunately, the collaboration of VA staff and community partners managed to rehouse 86% of these veterans by the end of the year. Various factors, such as financial difficulties and illness, may contribute to veterans returning to homelessness, and the VA is committed to promptly and sustainably assisting them in regaining stable housing as early as possible.

This initiative aligns with the broader efforts of the Biden-Harris administration to reduce homelessness among all Americans by 25% by 2025. President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal, released last week, allocates $3.1 billion to provide permanent housing, access to healthcare, and other supportive services for homeless veterans and veterans who are at risk of homelessness.