Homelessness among veterans increased nationally between 2022 and 2023, but some progress has been made in certain cities, including Dallas.
City Council member Chad West, an Army veteran, said Dallas has applied for a federal designation saying it has ended veteran homelessness in the city. That doesn’t mean there will never be a veteran on the street, West explained. It only means that the local homeless response system can identify homeless veterans and get them off the streets in a relatively short amount of time.
Several other Texas cities, including Houston, Austin and San Antonio, have received this designation of having effectively ended veteran homelessness, according to criteria set by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. This means these cities have identified all homeless veterans and immediately provided them shelter. It also means they can provide service-intensive transitional housing for veterans, and they have the capacity to swiftly move them into permanent housing.
“I fully expect us within the next few months or by the end of the year at the latest to receive that designation that we have effectively ended homelessness for veterans in the city of Dallas,” West said.“We’ve made progress across the board in reducing the amount of people who experience homelessness, including veterans." – Dallas City Council member Chad West
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Through working with city staff, West said he’s come to understand that there are more ways to tackle homelessness for veterans, compared to other populations. “There’s more funding, resources, there’s more organizations involved, simply because of who they are, they’re veterans,” he explained. West, formerly chair of the Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee, said PTSD is a major problem among veterans that contributes to homelessness.
“I have met quite a few veterans that will openly talk about suffering from PTSD from various tours overseas, usually," he said. "And it is a real problem, which I’ve been informed has led to homelessness after a series of other problems in their lives.”
This positive trend in the numbers of homeless veterans can be seen across the country and especially in North Texas.
Annual counts of the nation’s homeless found there were 35,574 homeless veterans across the country in 2023, a 7.4% increase over 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. About 20,000 homeless veterans were sheltered in 2023, and about 15,500 were living on the streets. However, veteran homelessness has decreased by 52% since 2010.
The annual census of the homeless in Dallas and Collin counties found 365 people who identified as veterans. Some 77% of them were in emergency shelter, transitional housing or safe haven projects. The other 23% were unsheltered and living on the streets. However, unsheltered homelessness among veterans in Dallas and Collin counties decreased by 9% in 2023. The number of veterans in emergency shelters in 2023 had increased by 10%, while veterans in transitional housing increased by more than 100%, according to data from the two counties.
Also in 2023, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs was able to house some 38,000 homeless veterans across the country, according to KERA. In North Texas, there were 764 veterans housed in 2023. Across the whole state, 1,320 veterans were housed that year.
While West was chair of the Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee in 2019, Dallas launched an initiative to end veteran homelessness in the city. West launched the effort alongside fellow combat veteran City Council member Jaime Resendez. Looking back on the results of the city's efforts, West said, “We’ve made progress across the board in reducing the amount of people who experience homelessness, including veterans.”
Veteran homelessness is a top priority for the city’s Veteran Affairs Commission, according to Chairman Ronnie Mestas. He said when it comes to veterans, there’s usually other factors involved besides homelessness that also deserve attention. PTSD, mental health issues and substance abuse are among the other problems many veterans face that make tackling homelessness more challenging, he explained.
The statistics on veteran homelessness may seem promising, but Mestas guesses they’re off. “The big problem with identifying homeless veterans is a lot of times they won’t speak to you,” Mestas said. “There’s a trust factor.”
There are a lot of resources out there for veterans but they can be difficult to navigate. “You go in to fill out an application and it seems so complicated or overwhelming, most veterans just walk out,” he said. There’s also a stigma when it comes to veteran affairs. Some veterans think they’ll get ignored or talked down to when trying to get help through the VA, but Mestas said it’s not like that any more.
“It’s changed,” he said. “Before it was like every time you went to the VA it seemed like they were doing you a favor. Now, times have changed and there’s more resources.”
