Phoenix Reduces its Population of Chronically Homeless Veterans to Zero

Last week, Phoenix, Arizona became the first city to reduce the number of chronically homeless veterans living in the city to zero. There is more work to be done to eliminate overall veteran homelessness, but this achievement is a significant milestone for the nationwide push to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015.

In 2009, President Obama, along with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, made it a top priority to support veterans who lack safe, secure housing. With the help of supporters and cities across the country, they have reduced veteran homelessness by 24 percent since 2010 and are on track to hit their overall goal of ending veteran homelessness by 2015. 

Joining Forces congratulates Phoenix, Arizona and Mayor Stanton for their accelerated efforts and for their investments in ending chronic homelessness.  As other cities, such as Salt Lake City and Philadelphia, accelerate toward eradicating veteran homelessness, we hope that mayors and cities across the country will follow the outstanding example set by Phoenix and join in on this important effort.

As the First Lady has said, “We need to uphold the dignity and rights of every veteran. And that starts by keeping up our campaign to end homelessness among veterans.”

From the national level to each individual citizen, we can all do something to meet the needs of our veterans. They stepped up to defend and protect our freedoms, now it’s our turn serve them.

Click here to learn about getting involved in the fight to end veteran homelessness. 

Commander Cara LaPointeis a White House Fellow in the Office of the First Lady.