By Brendan Cheney
08/04/2016 04:48 PM EDT
The city, while a little late, is on its way to meeting Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pledge to eliminate veteran homelessness in New York City, as veteran homelessness has decreased by 91 percent in the city since 2011.
There are currently 437 homeless veterans in New York City, according to numbers provided to POLITICO New York by the city Department of Homeless Services, with 397 veterans in homeless shelters in the city and 40 veterans living unsheltered on the streets or in other public places. In 2011, there were 4,227 veterans living in shelters and 450 living unsheltered, according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development numbers.
In his February 2015 state of the city speech, de Blasio vowed to end veteran homelessness by the end of that year. In December, HUD certified that the city had ended homelessness among veterans who are chronically homeless (defined as someone with a disabling condition who has been continuously homeless for a year or more or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years).
In a phone call with POLITICO New York, Social Services Commissioner Steve Banks said the city is on track to end homelessness among all veterans. He said definition of functional zero is 300 homeless veterans, and the city has identified substantial additional housing units and is making sure they are habitable.
The city has placed 2,015 homeless veterans into permanent housing since January 2015 and has placed 1,254 veterans in the last seven months alone.
“The partnership with the federal government has been important in that we’ve been able to use federal HUD-VASH vouchers in combination with the City-only SEPS program that is 100 percent city funded,” said Banks.
Nationally, there has been a 40 percent decrease in veteran homelessness since 2011, with fewer than 40,000 homeless veterans across the country in January 2016.
The decrease has come after a national push by President Obama, starting in 2010, to end and prevent homelessness focusing first on veterans. And in 2014, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the Mayor’s Challenge to End Veterans Homelessness to coordinate federal resources with local resources more quickly end veteran homelessness.
Veteran homelessness has decreased by 78 percent across all of New York State since 2011 and seven communities in the state have been certified by HUD to have ended veteran homelessness: Albany, Long Island, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, Syracuse and Troy.
That New York City and the seven localities have decreased veteran homelessness so dramatically raises the possibility that the same could happen for other homeless populations. Banks said that Obama’s budget proposal includes funding to address family homelessness, and a similar partnership could have similar results.
“We think that what we’ve been able to demonstrate on the ground in terms of addressing veterans homelessness is a good model for demonstrating how we can address family homelessness as well,” said Banks.
It’s unclear, however, if a Republican Congress will approve that level of funding or whether the next president will carry on the program.
This story contains charts. If you are reading this in your inbox, click on the link in the alert at the bottom of the email to see the full story with graphics.