WASHINGTON — Los Angeles County officials saw a sharp drop in the number of homeless veterans during their annual survey earlier this year, good news that experts hope indicates the nationwide number of veterans battling housing problems is back on the decline.
The announcement came at this week’s National Coalition for Homeless Veterans conference, where hundreds of veterans advocates from across the country, including the California county, gathered to collaborate on ways to better assist homeless veterans.
According to federal statistics, the nationwide number of veterans without stable housingdropped from nearly 74,000 in 2010 to just above 40,000 in 2016, with significant decreases each year in between.
But in 2017, the figure rose slightly — about 1.5 percent — largely due to housing cost issues in California. Earlier this week, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said without the increase in that state, the nationwide totals would have decreased for a seventh consecutive year.