A federal housing program reduced veteran homelessness by more than half. What’s next?

>> Now to a problem across the country and one bright spot of improvement. On any given night last year in the U.S., some 653,000 people were homeless. That is according to government data. Up from 2022. A 12% increase. One group has seen improvement over the last 15 years. Veterans. Much can be credited to a government housing program in the department of housing and urban development and veterans affairs. The program combines housing department vouchers for rent with individual focused casework from the veterans department. Since 2009, the program has led to a 52% drop in hopelessness -- homelessness among veterans. The CEO of the national alliance to end homelessness. Before that, she spent time with the housing and development. Thank you for having me. I want to talk about homelessness in this country. Where are we right now? >> About 653,000 people any given night are experiencing homelessness across the country. About 35,000 of those folks are veterans. Folks who have served in our military. What we have seen over the last several years, especially since 2016, an increase in the number of people living unsheltered in this country. I mean folks living on the streets or in tents, cars, rvs. >> Don't have a permanent place, they are moving around. >> All of that. Lisa: You mentioned 35,000 veterans on house or on the street. Let's look at what has happened with that trend. This is the one population there has been improvement. You can see this over time. Especially in the 2010s. What do think the role is in seeing this kind of improvement? >> What we know from my experience and the national experience working to end homelessness at large is the easiest way to make it harder is to make it partisan. And solving veterans homelessness has been a bipartisan issue for a long time. And in part, that is the reason we have the resources in place in order to serve veterans who have experienced homelessness and to get them into safe and stable housing and the services they need to meet their goals in life. >> There was an expansion from the program from the original version. Why did it expand and how significant was it? Tracy: >> In the very early to thousands, there was a small version of the program that was relatively successful. In 2008, about 10,000 vouchers per year -- Lisa: To use for anyone who qualifies? >> That is right. It is allocated across the country based on relative need in different areas. That program has grown from the early years of 10,000 vouchers to about 113,000 vouchers now. Since 2012, it served 180,000 veterans who have been experiencing homelessness across our country. >> Was that expansion brought about because of the increase in demand, or an increase in awareness that this was a program that could help, or both? >> I think both. But also an increase in attention from our leaders. What we've seen from our leaders is three things. Leadership on the issue of veteran homelessness. In the 2010s, there was a lot of local leadership, mayors working to end homelessness, governors. The white house was working in concert to end veteran homelessness locally and nationally. Good policy. Housing and services veterans want and need is called housing first. That policy really is the driver behind the decreases we have seen among veterans experiencing homelessness and resources is the third one. We have been allocated resources every year since 2008, and it has grown over time because folks on capitol hill within the administration and in communities all over the country are really committed to ending veteran homelessness. >> I want to look back at the graph we showed indicating where veteran homelessness is. It is a steep decline. On the others of the coin, it is flatlining. There has not been continued decline. Why is it hard to get past the 35,000 point? >> We know that the market for safe and affordable rental homes has been getting tighter since 2016. We have seen an increase in unsheltered homelessness among all populations. Starting in 2016 every year. Even though veterans have access to theseseesources, it is hard to use that voucher sometimes, the housing choice voucher that provides rental assistance. Sometimes it is hard for them to find a unit and they need more help to find those kinds of units as the market gets tighter for veterans and for everybody. Those increasing rents across the country are impacting everybody. They are also impacting veterans. Lisa: In our last 30 seconds, this has been a problem in our country for a long time. It is a multilayered problem. Is there some hope there can be solutions coming? >> I have to have hope every single day when I come to work great I know we can end homelessness among everybody and veterans. Because we have resources tailored to the neeee of veterans experiencing homelessness. What I say to folks when they ask me this question is we know how to end homelessness. Safe and affordable housing coupled with services like mental health services, substance use treatment services, physical health services, and all of those things are available to veterans who qualify through the V.A.. So if we could provide access to those kinds of services and housing to everybody experiencing homelessness, I think we would see sharp declines in other populations as well. Lisa: It may not be easy, but is doable? >> It is doable, takes intention, takes time. We have to do it over years. We have seen it. Lisa: Thank you for joining us. >> Thank you for having me. ♪♪