Post by Logan on Jan 17, 2016 2:20:31 GMT -6
In Fayetteville, Winston-Salem, homeless veterans are off the streets
FAYETTEVILLE -- The vow by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 2010 that it would end veteran homelessness in five years struck many at the time as one more hollow promise to those who had served when their country needed them.
But last year two North Carolina cities – Fayetteville and Winston-Salem – succeeded in ending homelessness for military veterans who want off the streets. Raleigh and Durham expect to celebrate that milestone in the coming months. Veterans Affairs refers to it as reaching “functional zero,” meaning that every known veteran who is willing to move into permanent housing has done so, and any veteran who becomes newly homeless can be quickly housed, usually within a month and sometimes in less than a week.
Nationally, the VA’s ambitious goal was not met, but in the annual nationwide count of the homeless last January, the number of veterans without permanent housing had dropped by 35 percent compared with 2010. Those who work in the field say this year’s count, on Jan. 27, should show a precipitous decline.
The five-year effort to eliminate the old and complex problem of veteran homelessness has tested the nation’s political and fiscal resolve and forced a major policy shift that advocates say could be used as a model for eliminating and preventing all homelessness in the United States.
Continue reading at www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article55085050.html#storylink=mainstage .
FAYETTEVILLE -- The vow by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 2010 that it would end veteran homelessness in five years struck many at the time as one more hollow promise to those who had served when their country needed them.
But last year two North Carolina cities – Fayetteville and Winston-Salem – succeeded in ending homelessness for military veterans who want off the streets. Raleigh and Durham expect to celebrate that milestone in the coming months. Veterans Affairs refers to it as reaching “functional zero,” meaning that every known veteran who is willing to move into permanent housing has done so, and any veteran who becomes newly homeless can be quickly housed, usually within a month and sometimes in less than a week.
Nationally, the VA’s ambitious goal was not met, but in the annual nationwide count of the homeless last January, the number of veterans without permanent housing had dropped by 35 percent compared with 2010. Those who work in the field say this year’s count, on Jan. 27, should show a precipitous decline.
The five-year effort to eliminate the old and complex problem of veteran homelessness has tested the nation’s political and fiscal resolve and forced a major policy shift that advocates say could be used as a model for eliminating and preventing all homelessness in the United States.
Continue reading at www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article55085050.html#storylink=mainstage .