Now to a problem across the country and one bright spot of improvement. On any

given night last year in the US some 653,000 people were homeless. That's

according to government data. That was up from 2022, a 12% 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 casework from the Veterans Department.

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

Anna Liva 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.

Thank you so much for having me.

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

Where are we right now?

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,

...