VA Homeless Programs

CY 2022 Accomplishments:

VA set a goal to house 38,000 homeless Veterans. This goal represented an approximate 5% increase from the permanent housing placements achieved in fiscal year (FY) 2021, as well as nearly the same number of Veterans counted in the 2020 Point-in-Time count. By the end of CY 2022, VA had housed 40,401 homeless Veterans, exceeding the goal by more than 6%.

CY 2023 Goal Summary:

• WHO: All VA homeless programs and services in collaboration with others across the enterprise.
• WHAT: Will permanently house at least 38,000 individual Veterans.
• WHEN: January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023.
• WHY: Increasing the number of Veterans moving to permanent housing each year is essential to continue driving measurable reductions in Veteran homelessness.
• HOW: VA health care systems and their community partners will continue to apply strategic actions to accelerate and sustain permanent housing placements.

Definitions & Technical Specifications

Following the same methodology as the CY 2022 goal, credit for Veterans housed for permanent housing placements (PHP) made from the following programs will count toward this goal:

• All Grant and Per Diem (GPD) grant models (not including GPD Case Management)
• Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Contracted Residential Services (CRS)
• HCHV Low Demand Safe Haven (LDSH)
• HCHV Case Management (CM)
• Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH)
• Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Rapid Rehousing (RRH)
• Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment (MHRRTP) Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans (DCHV) and Compensated Work Therapy-Transitional Residence (CWT-TR) bed types
• GPD CM (for those Veterans who were homeless at entry)
• SSVF Homeless Prevention (HP) (for those Veterans who were homeless at entry)
• Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) (for those Veterans who were homeless at assessment)
• Health Care for Reentry Veterans (HCRV) (for those Veterans who were homeless at assessment)
• MHRRTP Substance Use Disorder (SUD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and General bed types (for those Veterans who were homeless at screening)

Permanent housing (PH) includes the following destinations:

• Housing owned by Veteran, no ongoing housing subsidy
• Housing owned by Veteran, with ongoing housing subsidy
• Housing rented by Veteran, no ongoing housing subsidy
• Housing rented by Veteran with HUD-VASH voucher
• Housing rented by Veteran with a non-HUD-VASH housing subsidy
• Permanent housing for formerly homeless persons (such as a Continuum of Care project or Shelter+Care)
• Staying or living with family, permanent tenure
• Staying or living with friends, permanent tenure
• Rental by the client, with GPD Transition-in-Place housing subsidy
• Moved from one Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA)-funded project to HOPWA PH
• Rental by the client, with RRH or equivalent subsidy
• Host Home (non-crisis)
• Rental by the client, with Housing Choice Voucher (tenant or project-based)
• Rental by the client in a public housing unit

PHPs are de-duplicated to account for any overlap in services. De-duplication occurs in the following cases:

• The Veteran moves into PH through HUD-VASH, AND
  • The Veteran has a program exit from GPD or HCHV CRS/LDSH to PH AND an SSVF RRH move-in date/exit to PH within 14 days of the GPD/HCHV CRS/LDSH program exit.
  • Other PHPs (VJO, HCRV, MHRRTP, GPD CM, HCHV CM, and SSVF HP) are de-duplicated based on the first placement occurring in CY 2023. Other PHPs with CY 2023 PHPs in HUD-VASH, HCHV CRS/LDSH, GPD, and SSVF RRH are excluded from the final de-duplicated total.
    • has an exit from GPD or HCHV CRS/LDSH programs to PH, OR
    • has an SSVF RRH move-in/exit to PH within 90 days of the HUD-VASH move-in.

Veteran-level de-duplication occurs at the following levels:

• VA Medical Center (VAMC): Veterans with multiple placements within the same VA Medical Center will only be counted once.
• Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN): Veterans with multiple placements across more than one VAMC within the same VISN will be deduplicated at the VISN-level display but will credit to each VAMC.
• National: Veterans with more than one placement will be de-duplicated at the national level to ensure Veterans are only counted once toward the overall 38,000 goal.
• Records with multiple placements will be de-duplicated based on the first placement date for VAMC, VISN, and National.

To account for this de-duplication nationally, individual VAMC-level targets are established based on a 5% increase to the target during CY 2022. This is important to ensure that each VAMC is still credited for rapidly housing Veterans who may have relocated and need services to become rehoused during CY 2023.

Note: Veterans who return to homelessness during the initiative will remain in the overall count and will be addressed in the Prevention of Returns to Homelessness component of these goals.

CY 2022 Accomplishments:

Of 40,401 individual Veterans housed through the 38,000 Goal, 2,443 Veterans (6.04%) returned to homelessness during 2022. Of the 2,443 who returned to homelessness, 2,110 (86.37%) were rehoused or on a path to rehousing by the end of 2022.

CY 2023 Goal Summary:

• WHO: All VA homeless programs and services in collaboration with others across the enterprise.
• WHAT: At least 95% of Veterans housed during this initiative remain in housing (i.e., no more than 5% of Veterans will return to homelessness). VA will ensure that 90% of Veterans who returned to homelessness are rehoused or on a path to rehousing.
• WHEN: January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023.
• WHY: VA seeks to prevent Veterans from returning to homelessness after successfully gaining permanent housing by ensuring that Veterans who lose their housing are re-housed quickly. This represents a significant step from VA toward building sustainable and consistent homelessness response systems across America.
• HOW: VA will take steps forward in building a sustainable and consistent homelessness response system provided through the VA enterprise. This includes meeting the staffing needs and continuing the Homeless Program Office’s “One Team” approach, which treats every Veteran as our collective responsibility, even after they leave our programs and care.

Definitions & Technical Specifications

Veterans who are placed into PH during CY 2023, according to the technical specifications listed in Goal 1, are included here.

• Returns are defined by re-engagement in VA homeless programs.
• Re-engagement is identified by a housing status of “literally homeless” at the time of assessment (for HUD-VASH, GPD, HCHV CRS/LDSH, HCHV CM, HCRV, and VJO) or at SSVF program entry where the Veteran’s living situation at entry was sheltered or unsheltered homeless.
  • To account for date variances in service coordination, assessments and SSVF entries occurring within a 30-day window of the PHP date will not be considered returns.
• Of those returning to homelessness during CY 2023 according to the specifications above, at least 90% will be rehoused or on a pathway to PH, evidenced by either:
  • A return to permanent housing (rehoused) defined as any exit to a permanent destination from HUD-VASH, HCHV CRS/LDSH, HCHV CM, GPD (not including GPD CM), HCRV or VJO after the return date, or an SSVF or HUD-VASH move-in date after the return date.
  • A pathway defined as current service enrollment or entry into in a VA homeless program that provides direct housing support. These programs include HUD-VASH, GPD (not including GPD CM), HCHV CRS/LDSH, HCHV CM, SSVF, VJO, HCRV, Domicilary Care for Homeless Veterans (DCHV), and Compensated Work Therapy-Transitional Residence (CWT-TR). Veterans are considered currently enrolled if a valid entry date is documented, and no exit date is documented.

  Note: Effective September 2023, Veterans enrolled into VJO, HCRV, DCHV, and CWT-TR will also be considered on a pathway to housing.

CY 2022 Accomplishments:

VA engaged with 24,906 unsheltered Veterans.

CY 2023 Goal Summary:

• WHO: All VA homeless programs and services in collaboration with others across the enterprise.
• WHAT: VA will engage with at least 28,000 unsheltered Veterans in CY 2023. Furthermore, VA intends to decrease the number of unsheltered Veterans counted in the 2024 Point-in-Time Count by 15%.
• WHEN: January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023.
• WHY: In recent months, the VA has participated with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Domestic Policy Council, and other partners in leading efforts to develop a national strategy to respond to the current crisis of unsheltered homelessness. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, 13,564 Veterans experienced unsheltered homelessness. Many communities have demonstrated success in implementing the systemic changes needed to accomplish reductions in unsheltered homelessness. However, other regions, particularly on the West Coast, still report large numbers of unsheltered Veterans.
• HOW: VA will accomplish this by increasing outreach to the unsheltered Veteran population, enhancing the availability and access of services and interim housing options available to Veterans. Also, given the proven strategies being successfully deployed in many communities, VA intends to deploy these strategies focused on communities with high numbers of unsheltered Veterans.

Definitions & Technical Specifications

An unsheltered engagement is defined as:

• Assessments conducted during CY 2023 in which Veterans spent at least one night in a place not meant for habitation in the 30 days prior to assessment, OR
• Program enrollments during CY 2023 in which Veterans were considered unsheltered at the time of program entry to SSVF RRH.