Statewide Homeless Veterans Initiative Achieves Milestone

New Jersey’s statewide initiative titled Bringing Veterans Home has helped 2,582 veterans receive stable housing, according to an announcement made at a New Jersey Department of Community Affairs event on July 29. 

At the event, Governor Sherrill, a veteran herself, said the project is “an example of what we can and should be doing for our veterans.”

“When we go to war, we plan for the ships, we plan for the aircrafts, we plan for the munitions [but] we don’t plan to take care of the people that fight in that war,” said Sherrill.

The Bringing Veterans Home Initiative launched in November 2024, a press release from the state of New Jersey said. 

“More than $30 million in state and federal funds were committed over a two-year period to help place New Jersey veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness in stable housing and provide them with support services,” the press release stated. 

Jaclynn Trakalo, project director for the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative in New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs, said the mission of the initiative is to “effectively end veteran homelessness by enhancing existing homelessness systems in the state of New Jersey, creating rapid access to housing, and ensuring homelessness becomes rare, brief, and non-recurring for veterans and service members in New Jersey.”

Referral Process 

According to the Bringing Veterans Home website, program entry is by referral only, and can be made through existing coordinated entry systems, community partner referrals or self-referral through the online form,  which is located at the bottom of the program’s website. 

The program prioritizes accessibility and has an online form so that “if someone wants to maybe not show up at an agency or not call and speak to someone, they’re able to kind of just submit this referral on their own,” said Trakalo.

“We recognize that as [the] government shouldn’t necessarily be asking people to navigate these bureaucratic systems,” Trakalo added.

The numbers 

The Program Dashboard on the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative’s website noted that there have been 3,248 referrals to the program between March 13, 2025 and September 14, 2026. 

The Dashboard also breaks down some of the housing situations of  people who have used the Initiative’s services. 

As of this mid-September, the most housing situation of veterans in the program is a lack of resources: the dashboard said 1036 veterans- or 20.17% of all the people who have been referred to the program- use it for that reason. 

The next most common housing situation for participants is temporary shelter- 934 veterans have used the programs for that purpose; meaning 18.18% of veterans in the program had temporary shelter before the program.

Other common housing situations of veterans who entered the program include: not having permanent housing (16.72%); coach suffering (11.95%); going through housing instability (6.19%); having no safe options (5.70%); having unsafe living conditions (5.47%); frequently moving (3.19%); being recently discharged (2.30%); and having unsafe living conditions (2.51%). 

Beyond Housing

The initiative provides veterans with other services in addition to helping secure stable housing.

“A lot of times our providers are also connecting them to employment services or helping them look for jobs or negotiating with landlords who maybe would be hesitant to rent to someone who had a prior eviction history,” said Trakalo.

The program also provides legal help to struggling individuals who may otherwise face barriers to accessing this type of support.

“It’s really nice to have those wrap-around services and our providers are really skilled at connecting [veterans] to those,” explained Trakalo.

According to the program dashboard, 318 veterans facing housing instability have been referred to Bringing Veterans Home as of September 14.

About 293 veterans were referred to the program because they had “no safe options,” according to the dashboard. 

Regional Service Areas

Regionalization is critical to the initiative’s success; it bridges jurisdictional gaps between Continuums of Care, Veterans Affairs service areas, and county boundaries.

The locations and organizations working to provide support to these veterans are as follows: 

• Gateway
  • Serving in Hudson County, Bergen County and Passaic County through Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, Inc (CSPNJ)
• Metro
  • Serving in Essex County through Soldier On and in Union County through Community Hope 
• Highlands
  • Serving in Sussex County, Warren County, Hunterdon County, Somerset County and Morris County through Community Hope
• Coastal
  • Serving in Middlesex County, Mercer County, Monmouth County and Ocean County through Garden State Home (GSH)
• Shoreline
  • Serving in Salem County, Cumberland County, Cape May County and Atlantic County through Soldier On
• Riverline
  • Serving in Burlington County, Camden County and Gloucester County through Veterans Multi-Service Center (MSC)

According to staff, the regions were intentionally selected based on demonstrated need in the community and the coverage areas of Veterans Affairs.

Comparing State and National Data

The organization has also taken steps to ensure they’ve got accountability measures in place, including research and evaluation methods to ensure the effectiveness and overall success of the program. 

The department’s PIT Count, which is described as “ an annual effort led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to estimate the number of Americans, including Veterans, without safe, stable housing, is an example of this.”

The tool is used to assess progress each year toward the VA’s priority goal of ending homelessness among Veterans in the United States.

It also generates data for the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, which describes the overall scope of homelessness in America and among several subpopulations, including Veterans.

Data showed New Jersey had 538 reported homeless veterans on the PIT’s Count Night in 2025, meaning it had the 38th lowest rate of homeless veterans in the United States in the time measured.

The data did not include the Northern Mariana Islands or American Samoa. 

Homeless rates among veterans in New Jersey rose 3.26% between count night 2024 and count night 2025, the study demonstrated.

When comparing the same two nights, the reported veteran homeless rate fell by 1.18% on average across the United States, illustrating a visible improvement in members of this community accessing adequate resources and demonstrating the importance of initiatives such as Bring Veterans Home. 

Veteran Testimony 

Although participants of the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative remain confidential in March of 2025, the New Jersey Department of Veterans’ Affairs posted a Youtube video of a veteran describing his experience using the program’s services.

In the video, James L. Dolan, a Navy veteran, described his career in the Navy, his experience with homelessness after his service and how the initiative helped him.

Dolan stayed at Veterans’ Haven North until he was able to find his own apartment through the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative, according to the video.  

“[I] still haven’t got everything set up in my apartment the way I want, but life is two-thumbs up right now because of this program,” said Dolan.

“The [program] saved my life.”