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The VA’s goal: No homeless veterans

Two years into a campaign to end veterans’ homelessness by 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs reports progress. But challenges remain as tens of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans leave military service.

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Dec. 6, 2011

Ernest Maas, 60, a homeless Navy veteran, waits for the city bus after getting dinner provided by St. George's Episcopal Church in Arlington. Maas has been homeless since May but has lived "on a very low income level" for the past 10 years. He served in the Navy from 1973 to 1980. The Department of Veterans Affairs is halfway through a five-year campaign to end veterans’ homelessness. The agency says the goal is within reach, even as a new generation of veterans returns from Iraq and Afghanistan. Making aggressive use of a voucher program, the VA has housed more than 33,000 veterans in the past two and a half years.

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post

Navy veteran Ernest Maas, who is homeless, gets dinner from St. George's Episcopal Church in Arlington. Officials of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Developments hailed new figures this month showing a 12 percent drop in the one-night count of homeless veterans, from 76,329 on a single night in January 2010 to 67,495 in January 2011.

Dec. 6, 2011

Navy veteran Ernest Maas, who is homeless, gets dinner from St. George's Episcopal Church in Arlington. Officials of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Developments hailed new figures this month showing a 12 percent drop in the one-night count of homeless veterans, from 76,329 on a single night in January 2010 to 67,495 in January 2011.

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post

Homeless Navy veteran Ernest Maas crosses an Arlington street en route to a bus stop after getting dinner from St. George's Episcopal Church. The number of veterans who spent at least one night in a shelter in 2010 was 144,842, a 3 percent drop from 2009. Veterans are twice as likely as non-veterans to be chronically homeless -- being without a home for at least a year or four times in the past three years. Maas has been homeless since May.

Dec. 6, 2011

Homeless Navy veteran Ernest Maas crosses an Arlington street en route to a bus stop after getting dinner from St. George's Episcopal Church. The number of veterans who spent at least one night in a shelter in 2010 was 144,842, a 3 percent drop from 2009. Veterans are twice as likely as non-veterans to be chronically homeless -- being without a home for at least a year or four times in the past three years. Maas has been homeless since May.

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post

Marion Bass-Dyer, an Army veteran, tears up as she talks about the decade between 2000 and 2011 when she was homeless. Bass-Dyer, who works with the Department of Veterans Affairs as a liaison between homeless vets and potential employers, says, 'With proper jobs where they can sustain themselves, we can end' homelessness among vets.

Dec. 7, 2011

Marion Bass-Dyer, an Army veteran, tears up as she talks about the decade between 2000 and 2011 when she was homeless. Bass-Dyer, who works with the Department of Veterans Affairs as a liaison between homeless vets and potential employers, says, "With proper jobs where they can sustain themselves, we can end" homelessness among vets.

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post

Terrance Coleman, a homeless veteran, reads at the District's Central Union Mission, which provides shelter for homeless men. Coleman, who is going through a VA drug treatment program, has been homeless four times (about five years, total) in the past 10 years.

Nov. 28, 2011

Terrance Coleman, a homeless veteran, reads at the District's Central Union Mission, which provides shelter for homeless men. Coleman, who is going through a VA drug treatment program, has been homeless four times (about five years, total) in the past 10 years.

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post

Terrance Coleman, right is greeted before bedtime at Central Union Mission, which provides shelter for homeless men in the District. Coleman is going through a Department of Veterans Affairs drug treatment program, but the agency, in using a voucher program to find homes for veterans, has abandoned a longtime policy requiring homeless veterans to be successfully treated for substance abuse and mental ailments before getting their own apartments.

Nov. 28, 2011

Terrance Coleman, right is greeted before bedtime at Central Union Mission, which provides shelter for homeless men in the District. Coleman is going through a Department of Veterans Affairs drug treatment program, but the agency, in using a voucher program to find homes for veterans, has abandoned a longtime policy requiring homeless veterans to be successfully treated for substance abuse and mental ailments before getting their own apartments.

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington POst

Terrance Coleman, a homeless veteran, prepares to take his medication at Central Union Mission in the District. He is getting drug treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs. About half of homeless veterans have serious mental illness and 70 percent have substance abuse problems, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Nov. 28, 2011

Terrance Coleman, a homeless veteran, prepares to take his medication at Central Union Mission in the District. He is getting drug treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs. About half of homeless veterans have serious mental illness and 70 percent have substance abuse problems, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post

Veteran Scott Morgan, 46, talks with other homeless men at Central Union Mission in the District. Morgan writes a blog called Confused Eagle, dealing with U.S. policy toward sub-Saharan Africa. At the VA Medical Center in Washington, the number of homeless veterans seeking treatment annually has grown from 900 to 2,000 in the past three years.

Dec. 5, 2011

Veteran Scott Morgan, 46, talks with other homeless men at Central Union Mission in the District. Morgan writes a blog called Confused Eagle, dealing with U.S. policy toward sub-Saharan Africa. At the VA Medical Center in Washington, the number of homeless veterans seeking treatment annually has grown from 900 to 2,000 in the past three years.

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post

Osbey Crider, 54, a homeless veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam War era, washes dinner dishes at Central Union Mission's emergency shelter for homeless men. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that more than 20,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been homeless at some point during the past five years, and that their numbers are rising and will probably continue to do so.

Nov. 28, 2011

Osbey Crider, 54, a homeless veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam War era, washes dinner dishes at Central Union Mission's emergency shelter for homeless men. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that more than 20,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been homeless at some point during the past five years, and that their numbers are rising and will probably continue to do so.

Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post

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