The Department of Veterans Affairs has housed the most veterans experiencing homelessness in seven years, with nearly 52,000 veterans housed nationwide in fiscal year 2025, an increase of more than 4,000 from last year, according to a press release.
This total includes 113 veterans permanently housed by the Salem VA Health Care System. The department said this is its best year since it began tracking the number of individual veterans permanently housed, rather than total permanent housing placements, to provide a more accurate count.
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In May 2025, the VA launched its Getting Veterans Off the Street initiative, with every VA health care system across the country participating in outreach surge events. These events locate unsheltered veterans and offer immediate access to housing programs, health care, behavioral health services and VA benefits. So far, the initiative has helped move more than 25,000 unsheltered veterans into interim (emergency and transitional) or permanent housing.
“This is life-changing and in many cases life-saving work,” said Salem VA Health Care System Interim Executive Director Tammy Snyder. “We are proud of the progress the Salem VA HCS is making to get Veterans off the streets and are redoubling our efforts to continue this momentum moving forward.”
Visit VA.gov/homeless to learn about housing initiatives and other programs supporting homeless Veterans.