Historic Declines Demonstrate the Efficacy of Evidence Based Responses to Homelessness
November 12, 2024 – Washington, D.C. — The National Alliance to End Homelessness applauds the reductions in veteran homelessness announced this week by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The data shows that homelessness among veterans fell 7.5 percent between 2023 and 2024, including a 10.7 percent decrease in unsheltered homelessness among veterans. This reduction is part of a successful long-term federal strategy that has cut veteran homelessness by 55.6 percent since 2010, representing the greatest success story in the effort to end homelessness in America.
Alliance leaders expressed hope that national and local policymakers will apply the lessons learned with veterans to the more than 650,000 other people – youth, families with children, single individuals and older adults – who experience homelessness every day in America.
“The secret to this decrease is not a mystery,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “Ending homelessness comes down to three things: using person-centered and evidence-based policy and program design, providing key resources at a scale necessary to get the job done, and showing the leadership and public will to keep a long-term commitment to our goals. Our leaders have honored that commitment to veterans; it is now time for them to honor it for the rest of the nation.”
The announcement comes as communities across the country are grappling with a severe housing affordability crisis and rising levels of homelessness that disproportionately impact marginalized people. It also coincides with an increasing appetite among state and local leaders for carceral approaches to homelessness. Oliva warned that these tactics are both outdated and proven to fail.
“Our nation is not reducing veteran homelessness through arrests, forced treatment, or any of the other harmful tactics that are on the rise. We are doing it by rapidly connecting veterans to housing and then providing them with the voluntary, wraparound services that they want,” she said. “We have a solution that works. Our leaders should scale these strategies up to address the needs of all people experiencing homelessness in addition to veterans.”
Recent opinion polling conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the National Alliance to End Homelessness showed that 72 percent of respondents support using federal dollars to take the same successful approach that has worked with the veteran population for the entire homeless population.
As the nation prepares for transitions in the Executive and Legislative branches of government, the Alliance called on leaders to remain faithful to the investments that are successfully rehousing the nation’s veterans, and to commit to expanding that priority to all people experiencing homelessness in the United States.
For media inquiries or request for interviews please contact: Libby Miller, lmiller@naeh.org.
About the National Alliance to End Homelessness
The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit, non-partisan, organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. As a leading voice on the issue of homelessness, the Alliance analyzes policy and develops pragmatic, cost-effective policy solutions; works collaboratively with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build state and local capacity; and provides data and research to policymakers and elected officials in order to inform policy debates and educate the public and opinion leaders nationwide.