Five years ago, President Barack Obama announced an ambitious plan to house all of the nation’s homeless veterans by the end of 2015. The country has made steady progress since then, with more than 26,000 veterans moved off the streets and into stable housing, but considerable work lies ahead. As the president’s deadline approaches, Stars and Stripes will examine efforts by cities across the country to bring the remaining homeless veterans home.
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The VA will open a transitional housing facility for veterans and soon start a planning process for the redevelopment of its 387-acre campus.
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Living with fellow veterans in permanent supportive housing offers a healing camaraderie, an oasis of shared experience and empathy. “For some of them, being here is the first time they’ve felt connected to anyone since they got out of the military.”
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Since 2010, when President Barack Obama launched a five-year national campaign to end homelessness among veterans, the number of former servicemembers living on the streets has dropped from over 76,000 to below 50,000. Here’s a look at efforts in a handful of U.S. cities' progress, based on figures provided by federal, state and local agencies.
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As thousands of troops leave the military each month without jobs or a plan for permanent housing, a new text messaging program will link vets to peers who can connect them to the services and support they need.
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FEATURE REPORT
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FEATURE REPORT
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A judge ruled a homeless veteran from Philadelphia who allegedly schemed with a New Jersey couple to scam GoFundMe donors out of more than $400,000 can be released from jail pending trial.
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Paul Henderson, a former Stars and Stripes reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize at The Seattle Times for a series of meticulously researched stories that kept an innocent man from prison, has died. He was 79.
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Help is available for veterans who ask, said Mark Hollandsworth, who manages veterans support services for HopeSource, an organization that aims to help 250 veterans per year in Kittitas, Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, Grant and Adams counties.
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The leader of Indiana's veterans' affairs agency has resigned following reports that he awarded department employees who are veterans grant money intended for struggling veterans.
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Vietnam veteran Louis Langston has been preparing to open a store that will send a portion of the proceeds to help veterans groups such as the Wounded Warrior Project.
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A vocational rehabilitation counselor at the VA Regional Office in Waco, Texas, is Craig Colton's friendly, gregarious nature quickly puts the people he meets at ease, the kind of guy most people would want to have a beer with. That's what makes Colton good at his job and why he so easily earns the trust of those he is trying to help.
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MILITARY UPDATE
At a hearing this month on GI Bill claim delays, lawmakers criticized VA leaders and legacy computer systems that seem to defy modernization despite Congress year after year allocating hundreds of millions of dollars for VA information technology upgrades.
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For Jacksonville homeless veterans, Five Star Veterans Center provides an in-between place for them while they get back on their feet both physically and mentally. To help with the general costs of running the center, Amazon last week donated $10,000 to the organization.
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A total of 530 veterans received a wide range of services -- from medical and dental care, to clothing and food, to haircuts and counseling -- during the seventh annual Santa Barbara County Veterans Stand Down.
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Women have served in the military since the Revolutionary War -- mostly unrecognized and under-appreciated until recent times, Teresa Shane, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2513 commander, said.
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Kevin Cuttill's son died on Veterans Day, 2009. Four years later, he founded Crusaders for Veterans on the Mississippi Coast to help veterans struggling with financial problems.
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At least 10,000 American women worked behind the scenes of the war, breaking complex codes used by the Axis Powers and providing critical intelligence to the United States Army and Navy. For decades, they did not reveal the scope of their work.
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Ralph Lord would fight in the Vietnam War as a member of the U.S. Air Force after graduating from Ballard Hudson High School. It would be decades later, however, before the Canadian would become a citizen of the nation he served for in the military and spent more than 60 years living in.
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The uproar over 15 acres on the corner of Freeman and Mundhank roads, about 35 miles northwest of Chicago, has arisen as the Department of Veterans Affairs is working on a nationwide expansion of military columbaria, which are final resting places for cremated remains.
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Voices of veterans: New museum in Ohio is a salute to stories, not war
November 9, 2018
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Report: California counties exceed US average in reducing veteran homelessness
November 2, 2018
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This Marine veteran found a road out of homelessness and a path to hope
November 2, 2018
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HUD reports drop to 37,878 homeless veterans in 2018
November 1, 2018
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Whistleblower: Revoke tax-exempt status for embattled veterans nonprofits
October 26, 2018
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VA's Wilkie promises permanent grave markers, other benefits for Alaska
October 21, 2018
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Twin Cities prosecutors, defenders push to expand Minnesota veteran courts
October 14, 2018
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Vets twice as likely to overdose fatally — what the Dayton VA is doing about it
October 7, 2018
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More than 60% of leases on the VA's West L.A. campus are illegal or improper, audit finds
October 6, 2018
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Thousands turn out for 19th annual Victory for Veterans motorcycle fundraiser
October 1, 2018
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Former Army nurse 'led a life of service'
September 29, 2018
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Trump signs $200 billion VA budget for 2019
September 21, 2018
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Homeless helper's benefactor: Case will be 'crystal clear'
September 18, 2018
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Mission Act gets funding under historically high VA budget agreement
September 11, 2018
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Homeless veteran travels cross-country by bike with his dog to help other vets and pets
September 11, 2018
