St. Paul, Minn. – On March 13, 2026, the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) highlighted new data showing just 150 Veterans remain homeless in Minnesota – the lowest level ever recorded. This major milestone is a culmination of years of focused work by Governor Tim Walz and MDVA and represents a 25% decrease from last year and a 41% decrease from two years ago.
MDVA started monitoring Veterans experiencing homelessness in 2015. Under the leadership of Governor Walz, MDVA increased our state’s commitment to ending Veteran homelessness by adding more resources for Veterans through the Homeless Veteran Registry (HVR). Today’s data shows those investments are paying off.
“This is an unprecedented milestone for the state,” says Paul Williams, MDVA Deputy Director of Veterans Programs. “This is an incredible partnership between state, federal and local governments with non-profits, community groups and Veteran service organizations and shows the power of community and working together to reach this incredible achievement.”
The HVR is a national best practice tool designed to support Minnesota Veterans who need housing and are currently experiencing an episode of homelessness. This by-name database is facilitated by MDVA and authorizes providers to collaborate across agencies to find housing solutions. It is a tool that brings resources to the Veterans where they are, instead of asking the Veteran to navigate through a complicated system. These specific resources are tailored to each Veteran and provide case management to help them in transitioning from homelessness into permanent housing.
Minnesota has been an innovator in helping Veterans find housing solutions. We are close to becoming the fourth state in the country with the designation of effectively ending homelessness among Veterans. Through the support of Governor Walz and the Minnesota Legislature, MDVA has created the Veterans Supportive Housing Options (VSHO) program which procured 87 supportive housing units for Veterans experiencing homelessness. Additionally, the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) leveraged philanthropic support to create an additional 74 rental units, totaling 161 units. These units prioritize the most vulnerable Veterans across Minnesota. This support was also key in creating Minnesota’s Veterans Entering Stable Tenancy (MNVEST), a program that mirrors the successful federal HUD-VASH program model to assist additional Veterans who are unable to access HUD-VASH within Minnesota.
The federal U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) provided an independent, interagency confirmation process validating communities that achieved the federal benchmarks for effectively ending Veteran homelessness. Minnesota has been engaging with USICH since 2014, with the goal of the federal review team confirming all 10 of their Continuums of Care (CoC) regions, with the Southwest CoC being the first region to receive this confirmation in March of 2017. Over the span of the next seven years, Minnesota focused on confirming one CoC region at a time, with the Hennepin County CoC becoming the ninth CoC to receive the designation in October 2024. MDVA was actively engaged with USICH at the end of 2024, submitting the required documentation at the end of January 2025, providing the required documentation highlighting that Ramsey County CoC was meeting the benchmarks for confirmation, being the tenth and final CoC in Minnesota to reach that milestone.
These confirmations—conducted jointly with the U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD)— created powerful incentives for local governments, philanthropy and public systems to sustain coordinated efforts toward effectively ending Veteran homelessness. However, last year the federal government halted several non-statutory functions across agencies, including USICH’s verification role. This action literally left Minnesota on the verge of declaring the effective end of Veteran homelessness but USICH would not verify the declaration.
MDVA continues to look to the federal government to resume certifications and is supported in that effort by the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs (NASDVA) by way of an unanimously supported resolution which urges federal legislation for the VA to “create a credible, independent and federally anchored verification process for communities that have effectively ended Veteran homelessness.”
“We’re proud that Minnesotans collectively make it clear that we will not allow our Veteran neighbors to experience homelessness after raising their hand to serve and protect our country. In Minnesota, Veteran homelessness is unacceptable, and the HVR results are proof of that,” says MDVA Commissioner Brad Lindsay. “MDVA has been leading this collaborative effort that’s included everything from asking landlords to open their doors to Veterans to developing simple and easily accessible tools to get Veterans on the registry.”
MDVA’s public-facing dashboard is available to view in real time on the MDVA Website. In addition, if you or a Veteran you know is experiencing difficulties with housing, please complete the Homeless Veteran Registry (HVR) application. Upon completion of the application, MDVA confirms eligibility and connects Veterans with partners to provide transition services.
