Veteran Homelessness Goes From Embarrassment To Success Story In Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There is a positive development to celebrate this Veterans Day. Philadelphia housing officials say they've essentially ended veteran homelessness in the city with the help of a coalition of federal and private providers.
Veterans once made up a disproportionate share of the homeless population, an embarrassment that prompted a White House-led effort to end veteran homeless completely by the end of this year. It's not clear whether it will succeed nationally, but Philadelphia's Director of Supportive Housing, Marie Nahikian, says the city has achieved functional zero, with 1,300 now housed and 12 still preferring not to come off the street.
"Homelessness among veterans won't just disappear. There will be a homeless veteran in the future," Nahikian says. "The important thing in Philadelphia is that we now have a system in place to address that, and it will be a brief, rare and non-reoccurring event."
Nahikian credits collaboration and federal resources that made housing available. She says the same formula could be used to end homelessness for everyone.
"Once you look at how we did it with veterans," she says, "it could be applied to any group of homeless people."