Lansing held a ceremony this week to celebrate an end to veteran homelessness in the Capitol City.

The Lansing, East Lansing and Ingham County Continuum of Care, the Capitol Region Housing Collaborative (CRHC), was recently recognized by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as “effectively ending” homelessness among veterans.

The city released data showing a 50% reduction in homeless veterans in Ingham County, with those remaining engaged in proven programs that lead to housing.

“We have some that kind of fall between the cracks,” says Joan Jackson Johnson, Lansing’s Human Relations & Community Services director, “But overall, we do everything within our power to pull them out of the back woods … to do whatever we can to help our veterans.”

Jackson-Johnson says there are many resources available to help homeless veterans that are not available for other homeless people.