We Already Know how to help the Homeless: Housing is More Than a Home

By Iris French | Policy Editor

Affordable housing is a challenge that undoubtedly has affected almost all Americans below the top tax brackets. It can be easy to think that there is nothing that can be done and the issue is a dead end. Wages have stagnated & moving out of your family’s home into a rental, let alone owning a home can feel borderline impossible. Homelessness is more of a threat to the average American than we once believed, but as the rates for the average American climb, successful programs have been launched that have tackled homelessness in veterans at an astonishing rate.

Homelessness has risen astronomically in the last few years.  The 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment report submitted by the Department of Housing & Urban Development to Congress painted a very dark picture. Homelessness had hit a new height. Families with children experiencing homelessness had risen by 16% while individuals experiencing homelessness had increased 11% since the prior year.  It’s not difficult to see why; from the time of the pandemic to 2024, housing costs have risen 47% while rents have climbed 26% from pre pandemic levels. As housing costs continue to increase faster than average income, finding affordable housing feels as likely as finding a unicorn. Housing ownership has become more and more of a pipe dream. And the experience of housing instability can seem like an inevitable circumstance for more and more Americans. 

While a number of politicians have advocated for change, these prescriptions can read more like generic campaign talking points with actual solutions seeming more out of reach each year. But one group of Americans have actually seen their homelessness numbers drop, even  while the rest of the population’s rates climb. When HUD made the Annual Homeless Assessment report to Congress back in 2017, just over forty thousand veterans experienced homelessness on a given night. Considering the veteran population at that point was almost 20.9 million, this would be less than a percentage of veterans experiencing homelessness at one point during the year. This would represent a staggering 45% decline in veteran homelessness between 2009-2017 through the efforts of the Veterans Administration. The timing is especially incredible due to the 2008 crash that a lot of Americans are still recovering from in 2025. 

The sharp decline is the result of a collaboration between HUD and the Veterans Administration to not just provide shelter, but to tackle the root causes of homelessness in veterans and better prevent it. Veterans experiencing homelessness can reach out to their local VA for individualized care and receive immediate shelter, mental health outreach and assistance to guide them back into a sense of stability. Their goal is not just temporarily removing them from the streets, but truly combatting and ending homelessness among veterans.This was accomplished through a wide variety of collaborations from the local to the federal level in concert with universities and institutions across the country.

Given that veterans are actually at a greater risk of homelessness than non-veterans, the results are nothing short of impressive. Not only that, they’re replicable. Veterans are also usually at higher risk of trauma, drug abuse, mental health issues and a plethora of other things that are major barriers to exiting homelessness. But the program has worked wonders for veterans across the nation, which begs the question, why can’t this be used for everyone?

The VA sees that homelessness is not simply a financial mistake. They didn’t tell veterans to simply “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and move on. When veterans are given housing, the neighborhood does not use the “not in my backyard” approach that often is seen when low income housing is considered. They saw that people who had sacrificed for the country were struggling and in order to help, barriers to assistance had to be changed. In no way am I comparing what the average American is experiencing to war, but if we have a proven program that turned around a crisis in less than a decade, why can’t we begin to apply this for all Americans struggling? Typically the biggest obstacle seen is cost, but successful models like Housing First demonstrate that the initial cost is very quickly recouped. Providing support for temporary housing is needed but it shouldn’t be the focus of funds as it only perpetuates a repetitive problem. By investing in providing permanent housing with supportive services, the reliance on public services such as hospitals and shelters can drop almost 50-70% by the NIH’s estimation. According to the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Reliance’s report 2017, the average annual cost of providing services to a homeless person in the state was around $37,434 but when provided permanent housing, the cost reduces to $25,633. Medical expenses start at around $30,000 when homeless and drop to $10,000 annually.  It’s been proven that providing stability first - as a predicate to recovery - works, as opposed to putting conditions on that stability.  And not only does it work, it saves.

No child deserves to sleep on the streets. No family should have  to separate in order to get access to a shelter. It’s unfortunately common that when families arrive at a shelter, whether due to space or shelter requirements, they need to separate. 10% of homeless report that their partners lived elsewhere. 20% of homeless families report separation from their children.  We shouldn’t have hard working Americans struggling to hide that they’re living in their car to their bosses, or being judged for having a gym membership while struggling even if it’s the only place they can shower. 

The face of homelessness is no longer someone who “threw their life away.” It’s now the average person who cannot keep pace with an inflating economy. More and more fully employed Americans are priced out of their towns with nowhere to go. They’re well dressed, maybe they’ve gone to college, they’re fully employed. But the situation that most Americans find themselves in is a leaky boat that they’re struggling to keep afloat. With rising costs of literally everything, the boat is sinking for more & more Americans. The VA has demonstrated that through collaboration within the system & understanding root causes, measurable change can occur. It doesn’t have to just be a tagline on a campaign. We have the proof. Let’s use it.