There’s no place like home
7/17/2023 10:00:00 AM
There’s also nothing like being homeless.
The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA), in partnership with myriad public, private and nonprofit partners, has focused on ending Veteran homelessness since 2014. An issue with many layers and complexities, Veteran homelessness remains a challenge.
On a positive note, eight of 10 Minnesota Continuums of Care (CoCs) have effectively ended Veteran homelessness in their communities. Effectively ending Veteran homelessness does not mean that a community will never again have a homeless Veteran. Instead, according to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), it means that every community will have a comprehensive response in place that ensures homelessness is prevented whenever possible. If it can’t be prevented, it will be a rare, brief and one-time experience.
Two CoCs – Hennepin and Ramsey – continue their efforts to reach the milestone of effectively ending Veteran homelessness in their counties.
Despite the efforts, the number of homeless Veterans on the MDVA Homeless Veterans Registry has hovered between 300 and 325 per day for the last two years.
This was the topic of discussion at the July 11 Commanders’ Task Force meeting held in Mankato. The group renewed its commitment to address this issue.
MDVA has learned a lot during the last few years about the homeless Veteran community and how we can best help them. The Minnesota Legislature was very supportive of our plans and in the recent legislative session, provided more than $16 million in the FY 24 and FY 25 biennium budget to support our state becoming the next state in the country to achieve “functional zero” for Veteran homelessness.
There a several initiatives underway.
We welcome the community’s support to help us reach our goal to end Veteran homelessness in Minnesota.
As always, if you need information or support on any Veteran issue, please visit our website, contact your County Veterans Service Officer, or contact LinkVet at 1-888-LinkVet.
Thank YOU for your service!