The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) expresses deep concern regarding the executive order issued on July 24, 2025, which mandates enforcement-driven approaches—such as forced removal of encampments, civil commitment for individuals with mental illness or substance use disorders, and conditional grant funding tied to punitive measures—to address homelessness.
These measures represent a significant departure from evidence-based, community-informed solutions that have helped reduce veteran homelessness by over 50% over the past decade. According to the 2024 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), over 14,000 veterans sleep outside on any given night—all who will be subject to civil commitment.
Veterans fought for this country – they have earned the dignity of a hand up in the way of investments in housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and additional supportive services, not surveillance and detention.

NCHV’s Key Concerns:

1. Ending Veteran Homelessness Requires Housing AND Services

Evidence shows that stable housing, combined with voluntary community-based services, is the most effective pathway out of homelessness—not forced institutionalization. Veterans experiencing homelessness, like all vulnerable populations, deserve dignity, respect, and access to supportive housing options. The HUD-VASH program has effectively moved over 100,000 veterans out of homelessness, and includes required case management visits to support veterans mental health, substance use, and other needs. NCHV has long fought to retain and improve VA’s transitional housing programs that offer intensive mental health and substance use treatment to homeless veterans.

2. Forced Civil Commitment and Institutionalization Undermines Rights

The executive order’s emphasis on involuntary hospitalization and stripping away due process protections is deeply troubling. Historically, mass institutionalization has caused harm and failed to provide long-term solutions. For veterans—many of whom live with service-connected trauma, PTSD, or other mental health conditions—forced treatment can retraumatize rather than heal. Moreover, institutionalization is often more expensive than providing housing and outpatient care and can be traumatic for individuals who are mandated into treatment settings without their consent. Veterans deserve access to voluntary, trauma-informed care in community settings—not confinement.

3. Ignoring Root Causes Harms Veterans

The order offers no meaningful expansion of affordable housing or housing assistance. Yet veteran homelessness remains driven by systemic issues such as a shortage of affordable units, rising housing costs, and uneven access to VA benefits and case management. Even if every homeless veteran were institutionalized, our country lacks the affordable housing capacity to support them post-institutionalization.

What NCHV Urges:

  • Invest in proven strategies, including emergency housing, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing tailored to veterans.
  • Ensure treatment remains voluntary and community-based. Behavioral health care should accompany housing—not serve as a precondition for it.
  • Protect civil and legal rights, including due process for any commitment decision. Federal policy should not circumvent constitutional protections.
  • Collaborate with VA and veteran service providers on community-based housing and supportive services, including fully funding and responsibly operating initiatives like HUD-VASH, Grant and Per Diem, Supportive Services for Veterans and Families, and VA’s Section 4201 Program.

NCHV reaffirms that every veteran deserves a safe place to live, access to voluntary, evidence-based support services, and respect for their individual rights. Policies that criminalize homelessness or treat it solely as a public order issue will only worsen the crisis, drain public resources, and disproportionately harm veterans who have served our nation.
NCHV stands ready to work with Congress, VA, local agencies, and community providers to advance compassionate, effective solutions for veterans—not punitive mandates.