House lawmakers criticize HUD’s annual count of homeless vets as ‘imperfect picture of reality’
LOCAL NEWS
By Linda F. Hersey – Stars and Stripes
June 28, 2024
The annual one-night, nationwide count of homeless conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development is failing to capture the scope of the problem, including among veterans, House lawmakers said.
The point-in-time census conducted in January 2023 seemed to under-represent homeless veterans at 36,000 when 300,000 veterans each year access homeless services through the Department of Veterans Affairs, Rep. Michael Levin, D-Calif., said during a hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee subpanel on economic opportunity.
The hearing was held to look at ways that real-time data could be applied to identify and track veterans experiencing homelessness and provide them housing and other services more quickly.
But lawmakers also discussed problems with HUD’s point-in-time census that relies on volunteers to conduct head counts of people living on the streets or staying in emergency shelters during one night in January.
https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/house-lawmakers-criticize-huds-annual-count-of-homeless-vets-as-imperfect-picture-of-reality/VB6GS7HIT5A6TERE3J76AW5FLY/
