Manchester, NH — Mayor Jay Ruais and the City of Manchester, in partnership with Harbor Care, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and a broad coalition of community organizations, today announced a major milestone in a 15-month initiative to end veteran homelessness. The final individual of the original 47 veterans identified as experiencing homelessness when the initiative launched in September 2024 has moved into permanent housing. In addition, the coalition has built a coordinated system that is nearing an effective end to veteran homelessness.

“Today, I’m proud to share that Manchester has made historic progress in ending veteran homelessness. We have housed all 47 veterans who were once without a home and helped 84 veterans overall secure stable housing. We have now met three of the four federal benchmarks and are housing veterans faster than new cases emerge, even in a tight housing market,” said Mayor Ruais. “I want to thank Harbor Care and the broad coalition of partners whose dedication has made this progress possible. Together, we are ensuring that those who served our country have a place to call home.”

Henry J. Och, President & CEO of Harbor Care, “Together, we are building a system in which veteran homelessness in Manchester is rare, brief, and non-recurring. That outcome is only possible with strong mayoral leadership and a coordinated, citywide response.” Harbor Care and its community partners effectively ended homelessness in Nashua in 2017.

By consistently housing more veterans than are entering homelessness, Manchester has established a stable, high-functioning system capable of sustaining long-term results. National research estimates that each chronically homeless individual can cost communities tens of thousands of dollars annually in emergency services, healthcare, and crisis response—meaning this achievement represents millions of dollars saved while restoring dignity and stability to those who served.

The initiative was guided by benchmarks established by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), which provide a rigorous framework for measuring system performance. Manchester has met three of the four benchmarks, with continued work underway to reduce the average time from identification of a homeless veteran to permanent housing placement.

Key elements of the system include a coordinated entry process to quickly identify veterans, data-driven case conferencing to ensure accountability, strong housing navigation and landlord engagement strategies, and close alignment between the City, Harbor Care, the VA, and community partners.