VA houses largest number of homeless Veterans in seven years; Columbia VAHCS helped house 434 Veterans locally
By Wyatt Anthony, Public Affairs Specialist
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced it permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans across the country in FY 2025 — the highest number since VA began tracking unique Veterans instead of total housing placements. That total represented an increase of 4,011 Veterans over the previous year.
The nationwide achievement included the work of the Columbia VA Health Care System, which permanently housed 434 Veterans across its region in FY 2025.
This marked VA’s best national performance since the unique-Veteran measurement began in 2022. When applied retroactively to earlier years, the national numbers were:
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 launched its Getting Veterans Off the Street initiative. Every VA medical center conducted outreach surge events to locate unsheltered Veterans and connect them with housing programs, health care, behavioral-health services and benefits. Nationally, the initiative moved 25,065 unsheltered Veterans into interim or permanent housing.
These efforts aligned with the Trump administration’s May executive order establishing the National Center for Warrior Independence for Homeless Veterans on the West Los Angeles VA campus. The center aimed to house and support up to 6,000 Veterans by 2028.
“This is life-changing and, in many cases, life-saving work,” said Jeffrey Soots, Acting Medical Center Director for Columbia VAHCS. “Thanks to the hard work of our staff and partners across the region, we helped 434 Veterans secure permanent housing in fiscal year 2025. We will continue building on this momentum so every Veteran here has a path to long-term stability.”
Columbia VAHCS carries out its housing mission through the Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Program, which provides outreach, case management, transitional housing coordination, HUD-VASH operations and connections to health and social services. After introducing the full program name once, the acronym HCHV is used for clarity.
According to Amanda Bonner, HCHV Program Coordinator, Columbia VAHCS’ approach depended on intensive outreach, strong housing partnerships and sustained case management:
“Veterans are referred for permanent housing with HUD-VASH through various points of entry. Our Outreach Specialists went into the community — finding Veterans living under bridges, in parks and in encampments — and connected them with VA programs. Once Veterans qualified for HUD-VASH, our Housing Specialists located private apartments or houses, and our HUD-VASH Social Workers made frequent home visits to ensure wraparound support. These included employment resources, mental-health and substance-use services, utility assistance and community partners, so Veterans could maintain safe, affordable housing.”
Bonner said the biggest local barrier remained finding landlords willing to accept Housing Choice Vouchers.
“To address this, we organized a Landlord Fair that brought together property managers, VA staff and community partners,” she said. “It helped us build new relationships and expand available housing options.”
Columbia VAHCS managed 798 HUD-VASH vouchers in FY 2025, with 774 actively in use throughout Columbia, Spartanburg, Greenville, Greer, Rock Hill, Sumter, Florence and Lexington. The system also operated 33 contract beds in Columbia and Greenville, along with 75 transitional-housing beds through community partners.
Bonner credited regional collaboration as essential:
“HCHV worked alongside many agencies, and we could not do this work without them. Our Local Housing Authorities were critical because they issued the vouchers and paid landlords. At our surge event, SSVF providers — Alston Wilkes, 180 Place and ECHO — were onsite to process same-day referrals. Suicide Prevention and Chaplain Services also joined to provide emotional and spiritual support.”
She highlighted one case involving a single-mother Veteran of three. The Veteran lacked transportation and needed housing on a school bus line. Through HUD-VASH and community support, she secured permanent housing and later received a donated vehicle.
Columbia VAHCS expanded its housing capacity over the past year, adding staff and bringing 50 new project-based vouchers to the Greenville area. It also added five medical-respite beds for Veterans discharged from the hospital who needed short-term care before moving into permanent housing.
For FY 2026, the system planned to continue permanently housing Veterans, maintaining long-term stability and hosting recurring Outreach Surge events, Landlord Fairs and employment-focused initiatives.
Veterans experiencing homelessness or at risk of it could call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-4AID-VET
Veterans experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless can call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-4AID-VET