Housing with Supportive Services for Veterans
![: Iowa Avenue—Building 412, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Dayton, Ohio](/assets/gao_blog/inline/gao-17-101_oh.jpg)
(Photos of supportive housing in Dayton, Ohio. Excerpted from GAO-17-101)
Supportive housing Three major health risks contribute to veteran homelessness: mental health problems, substance abuse, and chronic illnesses. Supportive housing is widely recognized as a key solution for persistent veteran homelessness since it can provide services that address many of these problems.![Figure 3: Examples of Services Offered to Improve Veterans’ Health and Well-being at Supportive-Housing Enhanced-Use Leases](/assets/gao_blog/inline/gao-17-101_fig3.jpg)
(Excerpted from GAO-17-101)
VA and HUD teamed up with private and not-for-profit partners to convert surplus federal property into supportive housing. This housing was created using “enhanced-use leases.” This type of housing provides vulnerable vets with a place to live on a VA medical campus—where they can access an array of community and medical services. What does living on a VA medical center campus look like? Here’s one in New Jersey:![Valley Brook Village Phase I, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Lyons, New Jersey](/assets/gao_blog/inline/gao-17-101_ma.jpg)
![Freedom’s Path I, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Hines, Illinois](/assets/gao_blog/inline/gao-17-101_il.jpg)
![Al Loehr Veterans and Community Studio Apartments, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, St. Cloud, Minnesota](/assets/gao_blog/inline/gao-17-101_mn.jpg)
(Photos excerpted from GAO-17-101)
Our interactive graphics show the location and status of these units, as well as each state’s population of homeless veterans, as illustrated below.(Excerpted from GAO-17-101)
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