The number of homeless veterans in Sacramento County dropped this year by 15% compared with 2022, following several years of significant increases.
Ahead of Veterans Day, CapRadio spoke with veterans advocates about what led to this year’s modest reduction. We also asked about what’s being done for the hundreds of veterans who remain unhoused countywide.
Advocates said the Sacramento region’s greater focus on treatment and housing services led to this year’s drop. The most recent homeless count found 548 veterans living on the county’s streets, riverbanks and in shelters. That’s down from 645 two years ago.
Even so, the number of homeless vets in the region has remained stubbornly high for years. In 2009, for example, the total was 426. Then it dropped for a few years, before spiking to 667 in 2019, according to the region’s homeless surveys.
Tanya Tabon is the homeless program manager for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She said the VA has boosted its housing and drug treatment services in recent years, actions that led to the modest drop in homeless vets.
“We still have a ways to go, I mean, no doubt. Especially in the Sacramento area,” Tabon said.
Perhaps the greatest need, she added, is for people who can reach out and truly connect with veterans on the streets.
“I definitely feel like more outreach is needed,” Tabon said. “I mean, we need an army of folks to tackle the problem.”
Veterans today make up about 8% of the county’s estimated 6,600 unhoused residents, according to the region’s 2024 Point In Time Count. While the overall number of homeless veterans has increased, they now make up a smaller share of the total population. They represented about 15% of the total in 2009.
Max Baumgartner is with Sacramento Stand Down, a nonprofit that connects homeless veterans with services. He said the VA and shelter organizations like Volunteers of America are doing a better job of connecting Sacramento’s homeless vets with housing and shelter.
“There’s definitely more veterans that are coming off the street and being put into motels, being put into temporary housing and then being placed into housing,” Baumgartner said.
He said the next challenge is keeping those veterans housed and preventing younger vets from falling into homelessness.
“For our young folks, it’s hard,” he added. “They can’t keep up with the rent. They can’t keep up with the (cost of) groceries. They’re couch surfing. And they’re living in their cars.”
Baumgartner, who is a Vietnam veteran, said some veterans aren’t counted in the region’s homeless surveys because they stay in the shadows.
“I can tell you, if veterans don’t want you to know they’re homeless, and don’t want you to find them, you’re not going to find them,” he explained.
But that’s changing, to some degree. Baumgartner said younger veterans are more willing to listen and accept services than older vets because today’s military leadership encourages them to seek help.
The opposite was true for Vietnam-era veterans, many of whom struggled with mental health disorders and addiction.
“They were told when they were in the service: ‘You don’t talk about this. You don’t do that,’” said Julie Baumgartner, the veterans services program director for Volunteers of America. She is married to Max Baumgartner.
“There were no services out there,” she added. “So, what did the veterans do back then? They self-medicated.”
The reluctance of veterans, young and old, to be seen and to get help makes it even more important to have homeless outreach workers — like Pitbull Dave Chapman.
Chapman is both a veteran and formerly unhoused. He lived in homeless camps along the American River for three decades.
Today, he works for Volunteers of America at their X Street homeless shelter south of Downtown.
Pitbull Dave Chapman, 69, works at Volunteers of America where he connects homeless veterans with services. He said he uses patience and persistence to reach out to unhoused vets, but said ultimately it’s their decision to accept help.Chris Nichols/CapRadio
Chapman, 69, is a former Marine Corps rifleman. He said he returned home to Sacramento in his early 20s, after helping Americans evacuate South Vietnam during the fall of Saigon.
“After I came back from Vietnam, I had severe PTSD and I became homeless within a year,” he explained.
Chapman said he also battled drug addiction, long before the VA and Sacramento’s local governments ramped up homeless services.
Five and a half years ago, he said his life changed. Staff from Volunteers of America came out to the river, earned his trust and then got him medical care and housing. Today, Chapman is the one seeking out homeless veterans using patience and persistence.
“You can’t tell them nothing unless they want [help],” Chapman said of the veterans he meets on the streets.
“If they want help, they’ll tell me they want help,” he added. “If they don’t, I tell them that’s OK, I’ll hit you up in a couple more days. If I see them again a week later, I’ll go up and say how about now? I’ll pester them a little bit, but I’m not going to push them.”
As Veterans Day approaches, Chapman said the general public can thank veterans for their service by doing this: Making phone calls to their elected leaders to ensure no veteran goes without the care they deserve.
The VA runs a national call center for veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming so. It is free, confidential and can connect veterans with support services. The number is 1-877-4AID-VET (1-877-424-3838).
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