Our Current State: Ending Chronic Veteran Homelessness

February 22, 2019
Blog Entry

Ending homelessness is possible. It does not mean that no one will ever experience homelessness again. It means that when an individual or family has a housing crisis, our community has the systems and resources in place to immediately identify and support them in rapidly getting back into housing. Instances of homelessness should be rare, short-lived and non-recurring. We believe we have achieved such a state for Veterans experiencing chronic homelessness here in the Phoenix Metro Area, where:

  • Every chronically homeless veteran in our community known to the homeless services delivery system has been assessed and is connected to the appropriate housing and service resources required to end their homelessness.
  • A robust and coordinated outreach and identification system is in place to rapidly identify and engage potentially chronically homeless veterans on the streets or in shelters in order to connect them with the appropriate housing and services resources required to end their homelessness.
How we got here:
On October 17, 18 and 19th between 3:30AM and 8:00AM over 100 volunteers went out and interviewed individuals on the streets and determined an estimated 56 chronically homeless veterans who were street-living and 30 chronically homeless veterans in our shelter systems.
Since Veteran’s Day 2013, Project H3 VETS has engaged every known chronically homeless veteran that was on our streets or in our shelter system; over 56 chronically homeless veterans that were living on the streets of Phoenix are now indoors for the Holidays.
Homelessness in not static, thus we maintain the success of moving chronically homeless veterans off the streets with our active engagement system.
3829 N. Third Street. Suite 104, Phoenix, AZ 85012 • P: 602-340-9393 F: 602-257-8951 Find AZCEH at www.azceh.org and on:
  • Project H3 VETS has an active engagement system that works with community members to identify and refer chronically homeless veterans to the program, allowing us to rapidly identify, seek-out and engage this population as they appear in our shelter system or on the streets.
  • These referral sources include: the VA Hospital, CCARC/EVAC, Arizona StandDown, Blue- Prints mobile & homeless outreach program, Drug Courts Program, Police, Fire Departments, Jails, Prosecutors, Over-flow Shelters, street outreach and the Community Resource and Referral Center (CRRC).
  • Chronic Homelessness, as defined by HUD, applies to those who have a documented disabling condition and have been homeless for a year or more, or have been homeless at least four times in the past three years.
  • If you know someone who meets the above description and is a Veteran in the Phoenix Metro Area please refer them to the Community Resource and Referral Center (CRRC) at:
1125 W. Jackson,
Phoenix, AZ 85007.

Office Inside Lodestar Day Resource Center.
Open: M-F 7:30AM – 5:00PM
HUD-VASH walk-in hours:
T & TH 8:00AM –Noon.
Call 602-379-7100 or 602-568-7843 for more information.
If an individual is unwilling or unable to connect with the CRRC, please contact the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness at 602.340.9393
Project H3 VETS’ success in getting chronically homeless veterans off the streets of Phoenix will be measured and validated on January 28th 2014, through the 2013 Point-In-Time Homeless Street Count. A final review of the program’s success will be conducted at Arizona StandDown on February 14, 2014, the largest singular outreach event for homeless and at-risk veterans in the country.
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