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Fix The VA Referral Failures That Leave Veterans Homeless

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Sponsor: The Veterans Site

Veterans who ask VA for housing help should not be lost in a broken referral system.

Person sitting on a sidewalk with a sign reading “Homeless Humiliated Army Vet Please Help.”

VA is supposed to identify veterans who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of losing housing, connect them with help, and follow up before crisis deepens. But a December 2025 VA Office of Inspector General audit found serious weaknesses in that process.1

From January through June 2024, VHA screened more than 2.4 million veterans and identified 31,149 who reported either experiencing homelessness or being at risk. About 59%, or 18,250 veterans, asked to be referred to social work or homelessness program staff for help.1

At 42 of 140 facilities, however, between 25% and about 71% of veterans who wanted referral assistance did not receive follow-up action within 30 days, depending on the facility.1 That means veterans who raised their hands for help could still be left waiting.

HUD-VASH Referrals Need Accountability

HUD-VASH is one of the country’s most important tools for housing homeless veterans. HUD says the program combines Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance with VA case management and clinical services.5 VA says those services help homeless veterans and their families find and sustain permanent housing while accessing health care, mental health treatment, and other supports.4

But a March 2026 Government Accountability Office report found that VA did not consistently collect data on why eligible veterans were not referred to HUD-VASH. GAO found 174,045 instances of eligible veterans not being referred from 2020 through 2024, and VA did not document the reason in 151,296 of those cases, or 87%.2

Task & Purpose reported that staffing shortages, high turnover, and burnout contributed to failures to refer veterans into supportive housing, with staff at all eight GAO review sites saying there were not enough HUD-VASH case managers or raising workload concerns.3

VA Must Fix The System Before More Veterans Fall Through

VA’s 2025 Point-in-Time data showed 32,495 veterans experiencing homelessness, including 13,518 living unsheltered.6 Those numbers are lower than past years, but they are still tens of thousands of veterans without stable housing.

Progress cannot depend on a referral system that misses follow-up or leaves gaps undocumented. VA must require written local policies, train staff, create reliable reports, document every non-referral reason, fill case-management positions, expand qualified community partnerships, and report missed follow-ups publicly.

A veteran who screens positive for homelessness risk and asks for help should receive help. No veteran should disappear into an unchecked referral gap.

Sign now to urge VA, HUD, and Congress to fix homeless veteran referral failures and ensure every veteran who asks for housing help receives documented follow-up.

More on this issue:

  1. VA Office of Inspector General, VA OIG (9 December 2025), "Audit of Homeless Screening Clinical Reminder Process."
  2. U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO (30 March 2026), "Veteran Homelessness Programs: Opportunities to Improve Data Collection and Establish an Evaluation Plan."
  3. Nicholas Slayton, Task & Purpose (6 April 2026), "VA staffing shortages led to failure to refer veterans to supportive housing, investigators find."
  4. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Homeless Programs, "HUD-VASH."
  5. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, "HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH)."
  6. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Homeless Programs, "Point-in-Time (PIT) Count."

The Petition

To the VA Secretary, Veterans Health Administration, VHA Homeless Programs Office, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees,

I urge you to fix homeless veteran referral failures and ensure every veteran who screens positive for homelessness or housing instability receives timely, documented follow-up.

VA already screens millions of veterans for homelessness risk. That screening only works if it reliably connects veterans to help. A VA Office of Inspector General audit found that, at some facilities, veterans who asked for referral assistance after a positive homelessness screening did not receive follow-up within 30 days. That is unacceptable.

A veteran who tells VA they are homeless, at risk of homelessness, or in need of housing help should never disappear into a paperwork gap.

The Government Accountability Office also found major failures in HUD-VASH referral documentation. From 2020 through 2024, GAO found more than 174,000 instances in which eligible veterans were not referred to HUD-VASH. VA failed to document the reason in 87% of those cases. Without complete data, VA cannot know whether veterans were missed because of case-manager shortages, local process failures, poor tracking, eligibility misunderstandings, or other barriers.

HUD-VASH pairs rental assistance with VA case management and supportive services. It is one of the strongest tools available to help veterans move from homelessness into permanent housing. But it cannot work if eligible veterans are never referred or if VA cannot explain why they were not referred.

Please require every VA facility to maintain clear written policies for homelessness screening referrals, train staff on those procedures, create reliable reports that track positive screens and follow-up status, document every reason an eligible veteran is not referred to HUD-VASH, and review every case in which a veteran does not receive required follow-up.

Please also fill case-management vacancies, address turnover and burnout, expand qualified community case-management partnerships where capacity is limited, and report missed referrals, staffing gaps, and corrective actions to Congress.

Veteran homelessness has declined, but thousands of veterans remain without stable housing. Every missed referral is a missed chance to prevent homelessness, shorten homelessness, or save a life.

Please fix the referral system and ensure every veteran who asks for housing help receives timely, documented support.

Sincerely,

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