Housing First worked. Why is HUD turning its back on homeless veterans?
In 2010, the U.S. committed to ending veteran homelessness. By 2012, the Department of Veterans Affairs launched the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program — an initiative rooted in the Housing First model. The results were undeniable. Communities across the country, including Manhattan, Kansas, saw veteran homelessness drop significantly.
The policy didn't just offer housing — it saved lives.
Housing First isn't complicated: provide people experiencing homelessness with stable housing first, then offer support services — mental health care, job training, addiction treatment — without making sobriety or employment a prerequisite. It's compassionate, cost-effective, and backed by years of bipartisan support and hard data.
Yet the new executive order signed by President Trump — and the language and policy posture now emerging from HUD — shifts away from this evidence-based model. Instead, it reframes homelessness as a matter of public disorder and criminality, suggesting that services must now be earned or withheld depending on compliance.
This is a dangerous and shortsighted turn.
Here in Manhattan, we serve hundreds of low-income households through the Manhattan Housing Authority. Our waiting list is long. Our resources are limited. But our commitment is firm — especially to our veterans.
Just down the road, Fort Riley is home to the 1st Infantry Division — The Big Red One. Every year, soldiers transition out of active duty and into civilian life. Many come back with invisible wounds: PTSD, trauma, job insecurity. The very least we owe them is housing.
Housing First gave them that chance. Our local success stories include veterans who were on the brink — living in cars, couch surfing, disconnected from care — and who are now stably housed, employed, and contributing to our community. They didn't get better because they were already sober. They got sober because they had a place to sleep and a door they could lock at night.
Abandoning this model doesn't just risk undoing progress — it threatens to criminalize poverty and retraumatize the very people we promised to support.
I urge Secretary Turner and the administration to reconsider. Instead of dismantling what works, we should invest in expanding affordable housing, supporting local housing authorities, and strengthening partnerships between HUD, the VA, and communities like ours. We need more flexibility in capital funds, not more red tape. We need compassion, not crackdowns.
Veteran homelessness is not a moral failure of the individual. It is a policy failure of the state. And right now, we are heading in the wrong direction.
The 1st Infantry Division has a proud motto: 'Duty First.' Let's honor that duty by keeping housing first.
Aaron Estabrook is the executive director of the Manhattan Housing Authority and a U.S. Army veteran.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Why is HUD turning its back on homeless veterans? | Opinion
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