The national rate of homeless veterans has been decreasing since 2010 and Idaho saw a minor decrease in the last year.
In a press release Thursday morning, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson announced a national 5.4% decrease in homeless veterans, over last year.
Idaho also saw a small decrease, with 13 fewer homeless veterans. Lee Jones, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, explains how that might have come about.
"I think it's a tribute to the very good work that's done by housing authorities and local nonproftits and organizations that receive rental vouchers from us and are helping veterans take that very important first step of coming in off the street and then getting on with the rest of their lives."
While 13 fewer homeless veterans is definitely a good thing, it’s still only about 6 percent of Idaho’s total population of homeless vets. Jones says there is still a lot of work to do in the future.
Since 2010, the national number of homeless veterans has been cut in half. But that still leaves almost 40,000 veterans without housing.
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