The Department of Veterans Affairs says it permanently housed 51,936 homeless veterans nationwide in fiscal year 2025 — the highest number since the agency began tracking individual veterans housed instead of total housing placements.
That figure marks an increase of 4,011 veterans from last year. Locally, the Amarillo VA Health Care System helped permanently house 171 veterans, contributing to the national progress.
“This is life-changing and in many cases life-saving work,” said Dr. Rodney Gonzalez, director of the Amarillo VA Health Care System. “We are proud of the progress the Amarillo VA Health Care System is making to get Veterans off the streets and are redoubling our efforts to continue this momentum moving forward.”
Best performance under new method
Since 2022, the VA has tracked the number of individual veterans housed to better reflect the number of people helped. When applied retroactively, the data shows a clear increase over recent years:
National outreach initiative part of a broader effort
In May 2025, the VA launched the Getting Veterans Off the Street initiative — directing every VA health care system across the country to hold outreach events aimed at locating unsheltered veterans and connecting them to housing, health care, behavioral health services and benefits. That effort helped 25,065 unsheltered veterans move into interim or permanent housing.
The initiative is part of ongoing federal efforts to reduce veteran homelessness nationwide. Those efforts include President Trump’s May executive order to establish a National Center for Warrior Independence for Homeless Veterans on the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center campus. The center aims to house and support up to 6,000 Veterans by 2028.
Helping veterans find stability
Each day, VA teams and community partners help veterans transition to permanent housing — often with subsidies to make rent or homeownership attainable. In some cases, support staff help veterans reunite with family or friends as a path away from homelessness.
The VA’s efforts come as housing affordability and behavioral health needs continue to challenge at-risk veterans nationwide.
More information on housing initiatives and other veteran support programs is available online at VA.gov/homeless.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo VA helps house 171 veterans as nationwide total tops 51,900
Reporting by Michael Cuviello, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
