VA Houses Most Homeless Veterans Since 2019; Birmingham VA Houses 270

That number is 4,011 more Veterans than VA housed last year. The nationwide numbers include 270 Veterans permanently housed by the Birmingham VA Health Care System. 

The initial goal for Birmingham was to place 244 homeless Veterans into housing. The placement of 270 homeless Veterans represents over 110% of the targeted goal. 

This is VA’s best national performance since it began tracking the number of individual Veterans permanently housed instead of the total number of permanent housing placements, ensuring a more accurate count of the number of Veterans helped.

VA began using this new methodology in 2022. When applied retroactively to 2019, the numbers look like this:

FY                                                  Permanent Housing Placements                                 Unique Veterans Housed 

FY 2025                                       53,839                                                                                       51,936

FY 2024                                       51,124                                                                                       47,925

FY 2023                                       48,059                                                                                       46,051

FY 2022                                       41,208                                                                                       39,868

FY 2021                                       39,637                                                                                       38,401

FY 2020                                       45,397                                                                                       44,048

FY 2019                                       49,462                                                                                       48,133

In May 2025, VA took bold action to reduce Veteran homelessness by launching its Getting Veterans Off the Street initiative, in which every VA health care system across the country hosted dedicated outreach surge events to locate unsheltered Veterans and offer them immediate access to housing programs, health care, behavioral health services, and VA benefits. Getting Veterans Off the Street helped move 25,065 unsheltered Veterans to interim (emergency and transition) or permanent housing.

“Seeing 270 Veterans in our area move into safe, stable housing this year is both life-changing and, for some, lifesaving,” said Dr. Cynthia Cleveland, Acting Executive Director of the Birmingham VA Health Care System. “This progress reflects the relentless efforts of our homeless programs team, our grantees and contractors, and our community partners. We are committed to building on this momentum until every Veteran has a place to call home.”

Every day, VA staff and community partners across the country help Veterans find permanent housing – such as apartments or houses to rent or own – often with subsidies to help make the housing more affordable. In some cases, VA teams and partners help Veterans end their homelessness by reuniting them with family and friends.

For more information and support, Veterans may contact the national call center for homeless Veterans at 1- or report to the Birmingham VA on the 8th floor, room 8109 for Contract Emergency Residential Services. 

Points of contact include our Homeless Program Coordinator Ahmad Brewer or the HUD-VASH Program Coordinator Lillie McLemore  for information.  

Visit VA.gov/homeless to learn about housing initiatives and other programs supporting homeless Veterans.