The national goal of ending homelessness among veterans by the end of 2015 is only about seven months away, for those of you keeping track. That’s not a lot of time. So it makes sense for communities like yours who are working toward it to keep track of the pace of their progress.
To reach that ultimate goal in your community, you’re going to need to set and meet benchmarks along the way. That’s why we made step three in our Five Steps to Ending Veteran Homelessness setting a clear numerical goal and timeline for reaching it. This should keep you and your partners focused on your progress and always mindful of how well you are doing.
This veteran homelessness fact sheet presents information on the number of of veterans experiencing homelessness, the demographics of the population, causes of homelessness among veterans, and federal programs that address the issue.
Have you heard of the #WithTheseHands campaign? It’s part of a national initiative to raise awareness of the issue of veteran homelessness and the fight to end it. (The campaign takes its name from the final verse of the Bruce Springsteen song, “My City of Ruins.”)
The people behind the campaign are Give US Your Poor, which is a group dedicated to bringing together homeless organizations, celebrity advocates, and people like you to end homelessness. With this latest campaign, they’re using music and art to dispel myths, show support, and foster action on veteran homelessness.
In order to house your homeless veterans in your community, you need to know who they are. That’s why creating a master list of homeless veterans in your community is step one on our Five Steps to Ending Veteran Homelessness. Creating a comprehensive list of homeless veterans in your community may sound daunting, but it could be easier than you think.
With coordinated assessment, regular and continuous outreach, and working with all your partners, your Continuum of Care should be able to create and maintain a list of veterans in your community who need to be housed. Here’s what we say in the 5 Steps.
Rapid re-housing isn't easy, but it is simple. And it's bringing us closer and closer to ending veteran homelessness by the end of this year. The Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) grants to community organizations across the country have taken the rapid re-housing intervention to a scale previously unseen, and the impact on veteran homelessness has been astonishing.
It isn’t easy. People experiencing homelessness often face numerous barriers to getting into and retaining stable, permanent housing. Data from Fiscal Year 2013 shows that more than half of the veterans participating in SSVF services had a disabling condition; 44 percent had a substance use disorder; and nearly a third had no income at the time of program entry. Yet 84 percent of participants exited the program to permanent housing with a median length of 90 days of services.
How has SSVF managed to achieve such dramatic outcomes?
