Minnesota Program Aims To End Veteran Homelessness
(CBS) -- A series of innovations in Minnesota are working to end homelessness among military veterans. The state has used an individualized approach, first learning what factors contributed to the situation, be it mental health issues, substance abuse or simple economics. The state then tailors a support system to address those issues.
It's a model that could help the general homeless population - veteran or not.
"I think the approach that we've taken is really to break it down into its essential elements," Larry Herke, commissioner of Minnesota's VA, told Dana Jacobson for "CBS This Morning Saturday."
Nine years ago, when there were just over 1,700 homeless vets in Minnesota, Jerke's department began to compile a registry of every veteran living on the street in the state. Working with partners like the federal VA and numerous non-profits they started finding homes for vets.
"They all had these resources but no one organization could solve the problem by themselves," Herke said. "It took the combination of all of the organizations to be able to pull together and to be able to come up with the actual solution to this problem."
Herke has found support at the state level including Minnesota's new governor Tim Walz, a fellow veteran of the National Guard.