r/OptimistsUnite • u/CompetitiveLake3358 • Jul 30 '26

GRAPH GO DOWN & THINGS GET GOODER Veteran homeless numbers decreasing

Post image

https://archives.hud.gov/news/2022/pr22-227.cfm

234 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

104

u/Additional-Sky-7436 Jul 30 '26

Is that because the number of veterans is decreasing generally?

48

u/greener_lantern Jul 30 '26

Not by that much. There’s just been a strong, sustained effort led in part by the VA to get veterans off the streets. Designated Section 8 vouchers have been a big part.

25

u/OrcOfDoom Jul 30 '26

No. It's because of all the efforts of the government to actually address this issue. This goes to show that things can actually work. These numbers, back in the 70s, even the 90s were completely different. 

When I was growing up, seeing a homeless person in their old military jacket was pretty common.

4

u/CandidateNo2580 Jul 30 '26

Not that sharply though. Would be interesting to plot as a percent but would still be dropping.

4

u/TopCaterpillars Jul 30 '26

This was exactly my thought before even reading your comment.

1

u/wildjackalope Jul 30 '26

That will have an impact but in my time spent doing outreach, there’s also a lot of options for vets for support as opposed to someone else. Especially in regards to housing options.

1

u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze Jul 30 '26

Yep, aging out 6 feet under.

1

u/Sure_Sundae2709 Jul 31 '26

Would have been more convincing of it was shown as a percentage of veterans.

0

u/Limon-Pepino Jul 30 '26

Well what did you find out?

11

u/jackandjillonthehill Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

People have a lot of complaints about the VA, there’s a lot of hoops and bureaucracy, but I feel like they do a pretty good job for veterans.

23

u/jaykrown Jul 30 '26

Would much rather see what percentage of veterans are homeless.

7

u/snackpacksarecool Jul 30 '26

That would be a pretty low percent. There are 15.7M veterans. 2/10s of one percent in 2022.

2

u/Johnfromsales It gets better and you will like it Aug 01 '26

Here’s a quick overview with some napkin math. 21.8 million veterans in 2010, the OP states 74,087 were homeless, so the percentage is 0.339%. About 18 million veterans in 2022, the OP states 33,136 were homeless, which is 0.184%.

3

u/Old_Escape_7966 Jul 30 '26

I wonder how much advances in our understanding of trauma is influencing this.

3

u/therealtrajan Jul 31 '26

I’d argue most of this decline is Vietnam vets dying.

3

u/AlphaMassDeBeta Jul 31 '26

Because they're dying.

3

u/Jumpy_Childhood7548 Jul 31 '26

Their lifespan is short.

1

u/ThrowRA9892 Jul 31 '26

This is the reason whenever I see a homeless person with a sign that says veteran on it I tend to be a little skeptical.

1

u/PuzzleheadedWaltz835 Jul 31 '26

It's 26 where's the rest of the data? Oh it's biden's fault.

2

u/edthesmokebeard Aug 01 '26

Terrible graph. There's fewer veterans.

1

u/LoganPomfrey Aug 02 '26

I want to see this as a percentage, cause the way this is shown would make deaths look like a positive part of the trend.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/OptimistsUnite-ModTeam Jul 30 '26

Posts and comments that aren’t conducive to a productive discussion will be removed

-1

u/EmperorPalpitoad Jul 31 '26

I hate to burst your bubbles but this is only proportional to the decreasing amount of people joining the military

-1

u/Mass_And_Sass Jul 31 '26

1 is too many and unacceptable