2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Released

Every year the U.S. Department of Housing and Development releases a report uncovering the statistics of homelessness from the past year. The report covers populations like youth, families with children, individuals and of course…veterans. You can see the full report HERE. The veteran homelessness section begins on page 53. Many people are raising their concerns about this report as it doesn’t include major cities like San Diego which has a large homeless population. Further, the metrics of this report are taken from a single given night in January of 2018 so it remains hard to provide concrete numbers.

While the rate of veteran homelessness did decrease around 5% from 2017 to 2018. There is still much work to be done. Earlier this year, an article was released applauding this small victory but there is still much work to be done by the HUD (Housing & Urban Development) and VA teams. You can read this full article here.

Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, praised the administration for making progress, but noted the VA and HUD saw the biggest improvements when the issue was more of a top priority. Ending veteran homelessness was an agency priority goal for HUD under Obama,  

“Evidence-based practices work to end veteran homelessness, and we recognize and applaud that this progress has been made in the face of an affordable housing crisis,” Monet said. “Any decrease is commendable, but senior leadership at VA can and must do more to encourage progress across the country.”

Homelessness in general is on the rise according to the annual report, especially in larger cities like New York and Seattle. The main concern? Lack of affordable housing. There have been small wins in some cities thanks to local officials but much work still to be done for our homeless…