The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reports that there are nearly 70,000 homeless people living in the city, including just over 3,900 veterans. (Photo: Russ Allison Loar)
On Nov. 3, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, announced the results of an interagency study on veterans homelessness, suggesting the crisis has lessened in recent years.
The VA-led investigation, which was carried out with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, compared a single-day count conducted in 2022 to a similar count made in 2020. Likewise, the agencies found that the number of homeless veterans had decreased by 11 percent over that period, and by 55 percent since 2010.
The results of the count do not reflect the VA’s successful efforts to house over 31,000 veterans since fall 2021, though. As such, it is unclear how many veterans remain on the streets, particularly in Los Angeles County, where the VA has been focusing its efforts on combating veterans homelessness.
Moreover, some Southern California leaders are disputing the official count. As reported by the Washington Examiner, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva says, “the [homeless] count on everything has gone up. I don’t see any evidence of anything going down. It’s not like they are opening homeless shelters all over the place that are getting filled up. We have 80,000 homeless here, and 20 percent are veterans. We are the capital of homelessness in the U.S.”
Villanueva’s numbers conflict with a recent report published by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LASHA, which places the total number of veterans in Los Angeles at just under 70,000 people, including 3,942 veterans. LASHA’s report is among many used by the VA-HUD homeless veterans count.
Commenting on the LASHA report, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger says the agency “finding that 39% of people experiencing homelessness reported experiencing serious mental illness or substance abuse are both guesstimates, at best.” Citing a 2019 UCLA study, she notes, “I think both of these numbers are much bigger than what’s being reported.”
Barger’s comments did not, however, dispute LASHA’s homeless tally, only the nature of those who were reported to be homeless in the county.
As of yet, there is no system in place that keeps track of homeless veterans. Veterans who are homeless must note their status when volunteers or agencies conduct counts, oftentimes without a foolproof method for verification.
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.
