Despite the city’s concerted effort to house and shelter homeless veterans, a report released last week found that their numbers had increased by 24 percent in this past year, reaching 1,312.

What happened?

It’s hard to say, but San Diego isn’t alone. In 2017, the number of homeless veterans nationwide increased for the first time in seven years, although not as dramatically as in San Diego County. The 2017 count found about 40,000 homeless veterans nationwide, up by nearly 600 people and a 1.5 percent increase from the previous year.

Overall, however, homelessness among veterans has improved significantly. Nationally, the number of homeless vets dropped 46 percent from 2010 to 2017. San Diego County had 2,200 homeless veterans in 2010, and this year’s number reflects a 40 percent decrease over the past seven years.


Locally, people in the field said this year’s increase could be linked to housing cost or people transitioning out of the military who haven’t saved money and prepared for civilian life. At least one person suspected that veterans were moving to San Diego County from other areas, outpacing efforts to help ones already here.

Some say there’s a possibility that the actual number of homeless veterans didn’t increase as much as it seems, but that more homeless people were being accurately identified as veterans because of improved methods of counting and serving them.

About half of San Diego’s homeless veterans are living in shelters. The rest are living outdoors or in vehicles, and their numbers are increasing. According to this year’s report, 659 homeless veterans are unsheltered, a 45 percent from last year. The number of veterans living in shelters was up 9 percent from last year.

“I think it’s a combination of factors,” Veterans Village of San Diego President and CEO Kim Mitchell said about the increase.


The cost of living in San Diego is high, she said, and about 78 percent of Veterans Village clients receive less than $1,500 a month. About 44 percent have zero income, she said.

Among those veterans are many who just got out of the service, are too young for Social Security and have no disabilities that would bring compensation payments.

“I just talked to a young man who came into our program this week,” Mitchell said. “He got out of the military in January. In five months, he spent all the money he had and ended up homeless because he couldn’t afford a place to live.”

Mitchell said it’s also possible that the increase doesn’t mean there are many more homeless veterans, but rather more homeless who identify themselves as veterans.


The annual count also has improved its method of identifying veterans, she said, and increased assistance for homeless veterans could mean more are coming forward looking for help.

Some of that started in 2010, when then-President Barack Obama pledged to end veterans’ homelessness. Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development increased funding for programs aimed at reducing homelessness, and the effort seemed to pay off. The number of homeless vets began to go down, dropping from 74,000 in 2010 to less than 40,000 in 2016.

In San Diego, the city and the Housing Commission launched the Housing our Heroes initiative in March 2016 and reached its goal of finding rental units for at least 1,000 vets last October.

In late December, the city opened a large tented shelter run by Veterans Village of San Diego. The structure can hold up to 200 people and is one of three bridge housing shelters that together can hold almost 700 people.


Since opening in December, the bridge shelter at Veterans Village has seen 41 people transitioned into permanent housing, an average of about 10 a month, Mitchell said.

While the 2018 task force report showed the number of veterans in shelters had increased by 9 percent, Mitchell said it could be higher if the count were taken today.

On the night of the Jan. 26 count, the Veterans Village tent probably was less than half full, but now has about 200 people each night, Mitchell said, adding that she met with the mayor’s staff recently to discuss adding more bunks to the tent so more homeless veterans could come in off the street.

In August, Veterans Village is planning to open its first permanent housing complex, the 54-unit, 104-bed Veterans Villas in Escondido. Mitchell said the nonprofit also has partnered with Cohen Veterans Network to help post-9/11 veteran with mental health issues. Veterans Village is looking at sites now with a plan to open a facility by the end of the year, she said.


The number of homeless veterans nationwide has sharply decreased since 2007, but a slight increase last year reversed the trend. (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs )

In North County, Homeless Veterans of San Diego founder Kelly Luisi said she’s seen an uptick in the number of homeless veterans seeking help.

“I definitely think that the number has gone up,” she said. “I see a steady flow of new veterans.”

Luisi founded the nonprofit in February 2017 and said she used to see one or two new vets a week.These days, she sees two, three or more each week.


“I’m never without a new case,” she said. She acknowledged, however, that part of the increase could be because many homeless veterans have only recently discovered the new organization.

While Homeless Veterans of San Diego may be a new organization, Luisi has been involved with the population for years. She founded Our Fallen Soldier in 2006 to help families of fallen service members after her own brother was killed in Iraq.

San Diego Homeless Veterans has served about 110 people in the past year, placing 26 in bridge housing and nine into permanent housing, with another four on the way. Clients include people who have been homeless more than 20 years, and ages range from a 24-year-old to a 94-year old World War II vet at risk of losing his home, she said.

While she can’t say with certainty why the number of homeless veterans has increased, Luisi wonders if the work being done locally to house and shelter them is being offset by new arrivals from out of the area.


“I’d say probably 85 percent are not from San Diego,” she said about homeless veterans she helps. “It’s very rare that I actually meet somebody who grew up here.”

Her observation contradicts studies that have shown that more than 70 percent of the area’s homeless are natives or became homeless while living in San Diego.

She also said homeless veterans from at least three different states — Pennsylvania, Kansas and Maryland — told her that somebody had bought them bus tickets and told them they could find help in San Diego County. Then there are veterans who come to San Diego County on their own, having discovered the area while stationed here or because they feel comfortable around military bases.

Tony Teravainen, president of Support the Enlisted Project in Mira Mesa, said he hasn’t seen an increase in the numbers of people he serves. His group helps enlisted service members and veterans in seven counties, with 83 percent of the clients from San Diego.


While the numbers haven’t gone up, he said, there has been a shift in clientele. Last year, 36 percent of the organization’s clients were veterans and 64 percent were active duty. This year so far, 51 percent of their clients are vets and 49 percent are active duty.

One of the organization’s goals is to prevent homelessness. Teravainen said the group stopped 70 evictions last year, with the number of clients almost evenly split between active duty military and veterans.

The last time the point-in-time count revealed a steep increase in homeless vets in San Diego County was in 2015, when the number of unsheltered homeless veterans increased by 22 percent from the previous year. That number, however, marked a 29 percent decrease in unsheltered homeless vets over five years.

Looking at the trend nationally, the Veterans Health Administration’s Homeless Programs Office, under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said the recent uptick in veterans homeless could be related to high rent, low vacancy rates and untapped resources.


The VA, HUD and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness have agreed to work together to gather stakeholder feedback, analysis data develop recommendations to meet veterans’ needs. Possible funding for those recommendations would occur in the 2020 budget, according to the Homeless Programs Office.

More information about programs to help homeless veterans is available at va.gov/homeless.


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gary.warth@sduniontribune.com


Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

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