The federal government is lauding the de Blasio administration for “ending” chronic homelessness among veterans — despite the fact that there are still hundreds of vets living in city shelters.
A coalition of federal agencies — including the Department of Housing and Urban Development — sent a letter to Mayor de Blasio Tuesday praising his efforts to find homes for men and women who’d served in the military.
The agencies are “pleased to confirm that the City of New York has achieved the milestone of effectively ending chronic homelessness among Veterans,” the one-page letter said.
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The letter also praised the infrastructure the administration has put in place to combat veterans’ homelessness, saying they are “confident” that support is available for those in need.
De Blasio had promised to end chronic veteran homelessness in his state of the city speech earlier this year, calling it an “epidemic” that was unfair to those who had served.
“Chronic homelessness” is a term used for people who are on the street for a year or more, and who have had at least four separate episodes of homelessness in the past three years.
In 2015, the de Blasio administration found homes for around 1,000 homeless vets.
About five vets deemed chronically homeless still have not been housed, according to the city.
But the feds don’t count those since they have resisted attempts to help them, officials said.
However, there are still around 760 homeless veterans living in city shelters, according to the city’s Human Resources Administration.
Of those, some 200 have been placed in homes and are expected to be housed in January, officials said.
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Those people don’t fit the criteria of chronically homeless, so they don’t count against the city under the federal rules.
They will be included in the feds’ examination of the city’s response to housing all homeless veterans, and officials will determine later if de Blasio is making strides to ending that problem.
That determination will likely come in early 2016, officials said.
It’s unlikely the number of homeless vets will ever get completely down to zero in New York City.
About 100 veterans a month enter the city’s shelter system, officials said.
