LISA DESJARDINS: Now to a problem across the country and one bright spot of improvement.

On any given night last year in the U.S., some 653,000 people were homeless.

That's according to government data, that was up from 2022 a 12 percent increase.

But one group has seen some improvement over the last 15 years, veterans.

Much of that can be credited to a government housing program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Veterans Affairs.

It's called HUD-VASH, after the agency's names.

The program combines housing department vouchers for rent with individual focused case work from the Veterans Department.

Since 2009 that program has led to a 52 percent drop in homelessness among veterans.

Ann Oliva is CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Before that, she spent a decade at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and helped design HUD-VASH.

Thank you for joining us.

ANN OLIVA, CEO, National Alliance to End Homelessness: Thank you so much for having me.

LISA DESJARDINS: First, I want to talk overall about homelessness in this country.

Where are we right now?

ANN OLIVA: As you mentioned, about 653,000 people on any given night are experiencing homelessness across the country.

About 35,000 of those folks are veterans, folks who have served in our military.

And what we've seen over the last several years is especially since 2016 it has been an increase in the number of people living unsheltered in this country.

And what I mean by that is folks who are living on the streets or in tents or in cars or RVs.

LISA DESJARDINS: They don't have a permanent place to live.

They're moving around.

ANN OLIVA: That's right.

LISA DESJARDINS: You mentioned the 35,000 veterans unhoused on the street or otherwise without stable housing.

Let's look at what's been happening with that trend here.

This is the one population that there's been some improvement.

And you can see this over time if you look at the numbers, especially in the 2010s What do you think the role is of HUD-VASH in seeing this kind of improvement on that line?

ANN OLIVA: What we know from my own experience and from sort of the national experience on working to end homelessness writ large, is that the easiest way to make it harder is to make it partisan.

And solving veterans homelessness has been a bipartisan issue for a long time, and in part, that's the reason that we have the resources like HUD-VASH in place in order to serve veterans who have experienced homelessness and to get them into safe and stable housing, as well as the services that they need to meet their goals in life.

LISA DESJARDINS: There is an expansion of this program from the original version.

Why did it expand and how significant was that?

ANN OLIVA: So in the very early 2000s there was a small version of the HUD-VASH program that was relatively successful.

But in 2008 we started to receive about 10,000 HUD-VASH vouchers per year -- LISA DESJARDINS: From the government to use for anyone who qualifies.

ANN OLIVA: That's right, it's actually allocated across the country based on relative need in different areas.

And that program has grown from the early years of 10,000 vouchers to about 113,000 vouchers now and since 2012 it served 180,000 veterans who had been experiencing homelessness across our country.

It's extraordinary.

LISA DESJARDINS: Was that expansion brought about because of an increase in demand, or was it an increase in awareness that this was a program that could help or both.

ANN OLIVA: I think it's both, but it's also an increase in attention from our leaders.

What we've seen from our leaders is three things, leadership on the issue of veteran homelessness and the 2010s as you mentioned, there was a lot of local leadership.

Mayors were working to end veteran homelessness, governors and the White House was working in concert with folks to end veteran homelessness, both locally and nationally.

We see good policy housing and the services that veterans want and need.

It's called housing first, that policy really is the driver behind the decreases that we've seen among veterans experiencing homelessness and resources is the third one.

I just mentioned, that HUD-VASH has been allocated resources every year since 2008 and it has grown over time because folks up on Capitol Hill within the administration.

And in communities all over the country are really committed to ending veteran homelessness.

LISA DESJARDINS: I want to take a look back again at that graph we showed, indicating where veteran homelessness is that is such a steep decline, but on the other side of the coin, you see it's flat lining there.

There hasn't been continued decline.

Essentially why do you think it's hard to get past that 35,000 point?

Do we know?

ANN OLIVA: I think we do know.

We know that the market for safe and affordable rental homes has been getting tighter and tighter since 2016.

We've seen an increase in unsheltered homelessness among all populations, starting in 2016 every year, year over year.

And for veterans, even though they have access to these resources like HUD-VASH, sometimes it's hard to use that voucher, that housing choice voucher that provides them that rental assistance, sometimes it's hard for them to find a unit, and sometimes they need more help to find those kinds of units as the market gets tighter for veterans and for everybody, so those increasing rents across the country are impacting everybody.

They're also in impacting veterans.

LISA DESJARDINS: In our last 30 seconds or minute here, this is a problem that's been in this country quite a long time.

ANN OLIVA: Yes.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're part of exploring a lot of solutions.

It's a multilayer problem.

Do you think is there some hope that there can be some new solutions coming?

ANN OLIVA: I have to have hope every single day when I come to work, because I actually know that we can end homelessness among everybody, and especially for veterans, because we have resources that are tailored to the needs of veterans who are experiencing homelessness.

And what I say to folks when they ask me this question is that we actually know how to end homelessness.

It's safe and affordable housing, coupled with the services like mental health services, sometimes substance use treatment services, physical health services, and all of those things are available to veterans who qualify through the VA.

So if we could provide access to those kinds of services and housing to everybody who is experiencing homelessness, I think we would see sharp declines in other populations as well.

LISA DESJARDINS: It may not be easy, but it is doable, is what you're saying.

ANN OLIVA: It is doable.

It takes intention, it takes time, and we have to do it over, over years, but it is doable.

We've seen it.

LISA DESJARDINS: Ann Oliva, thank you so much for joining us.

ANN OLIVA: Thank you so much for having me.