174,045 Veterans Not Referred — and in 87% of Cases, Nobody Wrote Down Why

HUD-VASH pairs housing vouchers with VA case management for homeless veterans. GAO found 174,045 instances of eligible veterans not referred in 2020–2024, the reason undocumented 87% of the time, and case-manager turnover of 20–26% a year.

From the government's own report. Issuing body: Government Accountability Office, GAO-26-107517 (March 2026). Every figure on this page is taken from that report, linked in full at the bottom.
174,045Instances of eligible veterans not referred, 2020–2024
87%Had no documented reason for the non-referral
32,882Veterans homeless on a single night, Jan. 2024 (HUD)
20–26%Annual case-manager turnover, FY2020–2024

HUD-VASH is the flagship federal answer to veteran homelessness: a HUD housing voucher welded to VA case management. In FY2024 the money was real — $904 million in HUD obligations and over $1.127 billion from the VA. HUD estimated 32,882 veterans experienced homelessness on a single night in January 2024.

GAO’s analysis of VA data found 174,045 instances between 2020 and 2024 of veterans not being referred to the program — and in 151,296 of them, 87 percent, the VA failed to document the reason. Without the reason, VA cannot assess unmet need, cannot tell a full program from a broken door, and cannot target hiring where the gap is.

The workforce underneath is churning: in FY2024 more than a quarter of medical centers with two or more case managers had at least 20 percent of those positions unfilled, and turnover ran 20 to 26 percent a year, driven partly by burnout. GAO recommended VA collect comprehensive non-referral data and act on it; VA agreed.

"VA did not document the reason in 151,296 (87 percent)"
— GAO-26-107517
The reports in this library were written for Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins's department — and the accountability record for his office is kept at DearDougCollins.com. For veterans and families on the receiving end of these systems, the resource hub is BrownWaterVet.com.

Source: GAO — Veteran Homelessness Programs: Opportunities to Improve Data Collection and Establish an Evaluation Plan. Part of the VA Fraud library — see also the case files for the prosecutions these systems produced.

Watch the Coverage

Dash Cam Catches Cop Falsely Arresting Veteran

Founded 2026 — in memory of Thomas Alan Bowman Sr., RM2, USN, USS Arikara (ATF-98).

They awakened the giant. Record. Document. Share.

DearDougCollins.comthe accountability record BrownWaterVet.comthe veterans’ resource hub AllegedFraud.comVA Fraud Case Files
Are you a veteran — or a veteran’s family? Are you a whistleblower? Did the medical examiner fail your family?

THE NETWORK — ONE PUBLISHER, EVERY FRONT

DearDougCollins.comThe VA, on the record. TrumpTeamReport.comThe administration, documented. RFKTeamReport.comThe MAHA team, on the record. SelfGrowthVideos.comThe teachers, distilled.
AllegedFraud.comFraud in America — alleged, documented.You are here