Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago to step down from post

The program, known as HUD-VASH, provided homeless veterans with housing vouchers and case management, asking them to chip in about one-third of whatever income they received as rent. The rental assistance came with no preconditions, and drug treatment and mental health care were offered, but not required, an approach known as Housing First.
But that approach is being swept aside by the new Trump administration. In an executive order issued late last month, President Trump instructed government agencies to stop funding Housing First programs which, the order said, “deprioritize accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery and self-sufficiency.”
Though veterans are not mentioned in the executive order, they are at the heart of the nation’s homelessness crisis. Roughly one in every 11 homeless people is a veteran, according to the government’s annual census, and housing them is a major priority for Congress, which allotted $3.2 billion for that purpose this year.
Many who work with homeless veterans said they were blindsided by the president’s new policy, which calls for “shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings,” and says housing assistance should be leveraged as a reward for good behavior.