VA aims to house 41,000 homeless veterans in 2024

The Veterans Affairs Department is aiming to house at least 41,000 individuals in fiscal 2024 who are currently homeless, setting a goal slightly lower than the total it accomplished last year. 

In 2023, VA increased its goal by 8% from the 38,000 it hoped to house at the outset of last year. It exceeded that goal by 23% and permanently housed nearly 47,000 veterans, setting an all-time record for the department. VA Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher said the goal—a 7% increase from the 2023 objective—was designed to address the 7% overall increase in homeless veterans last year.

"I'm comfortable with the 41,000 being aggressive enough that reflects the 7%, but I also know, spending a lot of time with our homeless program office teams across the country, that they will look at it like a floor and they will set the bar much higher," Bradsher said. 

In addition to its overall housing goal, VA plans to ensure 95% of those housed in the fiscal year do not return to homelessness. It will also engage with 40,000 unsheltered veterans—meaning those who sleep in streets, vehicles, parks or other atypical locations—to help them obtain housing and other wraparound services. 

“Even one veteran experiencing homelessness is a tragedy,” Bradsher said at the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. “We’ve made progress in recent years in tackling this problem, but there’s still a long way to go and that’s why we’re setting these aggressive goals.” 

President Biden has vowed to eliminate veteran homelessness and Bradsher said the administration “will not rest” until every veteran is housed. VA works in partnership with the Housing and Urban Development Department on a Supportive Housing program that in 2023 helped 21,000 veterans obtain permanent affordable housing. Under the initiative, employees attend “boot camps” around the country to improve coordination with public housing agencies.  

Despite the record performance in fiscal 2023, a point-in-time count by HUD in 2023 found the homeless veteran population increased by 7.4% to nearly 36,000. The number of homeless veterans has dropped by 52% since 2010 when the Obama administration began pouring resources into an initiative to eliminate the issue entirely within five years. Progress has largely slowed over the last five years, though the number of veterans without housing has decreased by 5% since early 2020. Bradsher said the task has become more difficult due to decreased housing supply and rising costs. 

"We are seeing across the country fewer and fewer stock when it comes to homes and prices are going up, and so those that are on the fixed income being able to stay housed is more and more of a challenge," she said. 

The deputy secretary noted VA does not precondition its housing efforts, as it takes a "housing first" approach. 

“Whenever we get into contact with a homeless veteran, our first priority is to get them into the housing they deserve,” Bradsher said. “Then we work to provide them with the tools they need to stay housed—including health care, job training, legal and education assistance and more. That’s how we’ll meet and exceed these goals in 2024.”

She added that VA must ensure it has sufficient staffing across the country in its homeless program offices to meet and exceed its goals. The department is "taking a hard look" at its staffing levels, Bradsher said, though that process is still underway and VA is still unclear whether it has any gaps in specific locations.