136 veterans have been housed through a coordinated community effort. 

Today, Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais and Harbor Care President & CEO Henry Och announced a remarkable community achievement: Manchester has effectively ended veteran homelessness. 

When the initiative was announced in September 2024 at the NH Veteran Stand Down, 47 veterans were experiencing homelessness in Manchester. Every veteran in that original group has since secured permanent housing. Altogether, 136 veterans have been housed through this coordinated community effort. 

“Nearly two years ago, we promised to effectively end veteran homelessness in Manchester. Today, with the help of our community partners, we have fulfilled that promise,” Mayor Ruais said. 

Effectively ending veteran homelessness does not mean that a veteran will never experience a housing crisis. It means Manchester now has a coordinated system to quickly identify veterans experiencing homelessness, connect them with services, and help them secure permanent housing—making veteran homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring. This system has met the legacy benchmarks of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and has been certified by the Manchester Continuum of Care. 

“The success of this initiative demonstrates what is possible when a community comes together around a shared purpose,” Henry said. “Manchester should be incredibly proud of this milestone.” 

The initiative brought together the City of Manchester, Harbor Care, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Manchester Continuum of Care and many community partners. Harbor Care helped Nashua achieve the same milestone in 2017, showing that meaningful progress is possible when an entire community works together. 

Read the full City of Manchester press release.