Ending veteran homelessness requires 'all hands on deck'

In many communities across America, men and women that once slept in their vehicles or occupied street corners, underpasses and park benches over the past several years have been able to integrate into those same neighborhoods as members of those communities, leaving their past lives as homeless veterans behind them.

At the end of 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the White House launched a campaign to end all veteran homelessness by 2015. Since 2010, veteran homelessness has declined by approximately 35 percent.

“We didn’t get to a point where every community reached a functional zero, but that’s ok. Laying out that goal really changed the work that the community agencies do,” said Baylee C. Crone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV).

To combat the issue, President Obama and Congress tasked the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness with creating Opening Doors, the first-ever federal strategic plan to end veteran homelessness, enacting federal, state and local provisions to prevent veterans from becoming homeless and help homeless veterans transition to stable housing accommodations as quickly as possible.

“While the deadline itself was important, the goal is so much more important,” said Crone.

Throughout the years, emphasis has been placed on the larger areas with growing veteran populations like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

In D.C. alone, veteran homelessness dropped by nearly 70 percent. During the Homeless Veteran Stand Down at the D.C. VA Medical Center Jan. 30, the staff and volunteer noticed an influx in participants.

“This year we reached more veterans than we did in the years prior to this,” said Brian Hawkins, director of the medical center. “We don’t try to end homelessness through events like this; it is something that we do each and every day.”

The American Legion places special priority on the issue of veteran homelessness. With veterans making up approximately 11 percent of our nation's total adult homeless population, there is plenty of reason to give the cause special concern. Along with various community partners, the Legion remains committed to seeing this goal through, to ensure that every community across America has provisions in place to get homeless veterans in housing and connect those at-risk with the local services and resources they need.

Recently, The American Legion hosted and participated in a National Homeless Veteran Working Group with representatives from Disabled Veterans of America, Community Solutions, the National League of Cities, the Salvation Army, the National Alliance to End Homelessness and NCHV.

The group, comprised of veterans service organizations, community service providers and other agencies that work to end veteran homelessness, engaged with each other during a roundtable meeting, collectively identifying a wide range of relevant priorities for 2016 and beyond.

To continue the momentum moving forward, the group narrowed down their focus on several key issues to include:

• Strategic use of the VA’s Grant and Per Diem program

• Effective case management for Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing participants

• Landlord engagement

• Prevention and diversion

• Increased access to mainstream benefits

• Alignment of resources

Bob Looby, past Department of New Jersey commander, plays a very active role in ending veteran homelessness in his state. He had the opportunity to sit in the meeting and share some of his experiences with the group.

“This working group is a great example of The American Legion in action and how we play a very active role as leaders and participants,” he said.

Based on what he heard and observed during the meeting, Looby said he feels hopeful about the direction the group is headed and looks forward to witnessing the impact of their unwavering efforts to eliminate veteran homelessness.

“Unfortunately, the VA’s goal (to end veteran homelessness) was missed. That doesn’t mean we failed,” he said. “We just have to devote more resources not only at the local level, but at the state and national level to help combat this issue. This is a team effort by all stakeholders that requires all hands on deck.”