Official: Phoenix leads way on helping homeless veterans

PHOENIX — Phoenix stands out from other cities and is leading the way nationally on President Barack Obama’s goal of ending veterans homelessness by 2015, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said.

“In just the past year, Phoenix has made enormous progress and has potentially cut the number of homeless veterans in half,” he said.

Donovan said it’s a national tragedy that veterans are 50 percent more likely to be homeless than the average American and yet most Americans don’t realize that.

“Most Americans also don’t realize that while it’s expensive to house someone, it is more expensive for someone to be homeless when you consider homeless shelters, treating medical problems in emergency rooms. This goes beyond saving lives it’s about saving costs when government resources are very limited and we want to protect taxpayers.”