Every year, thousands of United States Armed Forces recruits take an oath to serve the nation, pledging allegiance to protecting the Constitution. However, when transitioning back to civilian life after enlistment, many return burdened by a lack of adequate access to the resources necessary to start building their lives — especially stable housing.
Although veteran homelessness drastically improved in 15 years, declining by 56.1% between 2010 and 2025, veterans and nonprofit leaders are passionate about further preventing and reducing the crisis.
“To know that someone who was willing to give their all for us, for our nation, so that we could be safe ourselves, it just breaks my heart that they have to go through that [homelessness],” Erin Izen, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation (THDF), told The Informer. “So that’s why we’re super passionate about it and want to make sure every veteran has a safe place to call home.”
Since 2011, The Home Depot Foundation has primarily worked to decrease veteran homelessness, having invested more than $650 million in these causes and helping to build and improve homes and facilities. In October 2026 — 15 years after the foundation shifted its focus to housing for military veterans, THDF employees, partners and friends gathered in Washington as the nonprofit announced its pledge to invest $1 billion to further these efforts by 2032.
Finding viable solutions to veteran homeownership struggles is particularly important to THDF, as tens of thousands of Home Depot associates have served the nation in various military branches.
Veterans’ stability during their transition to civilian life particularly hits close to home for Izen, whose husband and oldest son were in the Marines.
“My husband had service-related lung cancer, so I personally know what can happen and how easy it is to end up in a place you didn’t think you were going to be,” said Izen. “That’s why we are so excited to make this long-term, big commitment.”
Izen emphasized the need for THDF, similar organizations and leaders to evolve, iterate and push themselves to think differently when designing solutions to the disparities veterans face in the U.S.
While making up 7% of the adult population in the U.S., veterans account for 5% of the population experiencing homelessness on any given night. Additionally, in 2024, 13% of the veteran population was Black or African American, but made up 30% of the veterans facing homelessness.
“We can no longer say we stand for veterans and not stand up for the social inequities that they face,” Darryl Vincent, CEO of the United States Veterans Initiative (U.S.VETS), told The Washington Informer. “It’s important to me to be able to give back in some form or fashion when it comes to society. I believe we all have an obligation to want to give back to the community in which we live in.”
A Partnership Leading the Charge
Founded in 1992 and starting operations in 1993, U.S.VETS is the largest nonprofit in the nation combating veteran homelessness. In addition to mental health support, substance abuse treatment, career counseling and professional development, the organization offers various solutions to those struggling to find stable housing, including emergency and shelter beds, transitional housing, and permanent housing with rental assistance as needed.
Across the nation, U.S.VETS has provided shelter to more than 393,093 veterans, and in 2025, it helped secure housing for more than 20,000.
“We want to make sure everyone in the country, let alone veterans, are not sleeping on streets or not having the resources they need,” said Vincent, who began working with U.S.VETS in 2003, became the organization’s COO in 2012, and was named CEO in January 2025.
For Vincent — who served four years in the Marine Corps starting in 1987 before becoming a social worker — working with U.S.VETS is not just a profession. It’s a personal passion.
Service runs in Vincent’s family — his parents both served in the Army; his brother was in the Marines; one of his sons is a West Point graduate and Apache pilot; and his youngest son recently enlisted in the Navy.
Since joining the nonprofit, Vincent has helped advance its therapeutic community and services while championing homelessness prevention measures.
“When others don’t have that family support, we become their family to help them do that transition,” Vincent told The Informer. “I think the private sector has to… be able to work with veterans and active duty status and say, ‘What can we do to help you assist?’ because we kind of know what those barriers are, or those things that they need a little bit more assistance in.”
As two major organizations leading the fight against veteran homelessness, THDF and U.S.VETS collaborate with a master-lease program. Through THDF’s Veteran Permanent Housing Stabilization Pilot Project, U.S.VETS leases units from landlords and sublets them to veteran tenants in need, allowing them to expand access to housing for people who may not have the necessary credit scores or enough money to secure housing on their own.
“The transition out of the military, it’s been very difficult for many,” Izen told The Informer. “It’s very nebulous and can be very gray … [so] getting the transition right is critical because if they can’t get a job, it contributes to the homelessness. That’s just one aspect, but it is something we work on as well.”
Accepting a Helping Hand
Since launching in 2023, the partnership between THDF and U.S.VETS has helped at least 5,000 veterans from Hawaii to the District secure stable and affordable housing, including National Guard veteran Yolanda Caldwell and two of her three children — sons Breylan and Jordan — who faced unstable housing and, eventually, homelessness for a few years.
“Every morning I get up, I thank God,” Caldwell told The Informer. “I thank everybody that played a part in getting me here. I am so grateful and so thankful for what I have.”
Caldwell began basic training around 1990 and completed five years of active service, during which she was deployed to the 1992 Los Angeles riots triggered by the police-involved Rodney King beating. In a unit comprised predominantly of men, Caldwell suffered a sexual assault that led her to take a year of inactive service.
After transitioning back to civilian life, Caldwell and her family faced years of housing instability, deceitful landlords, an intense seller’s market, and a lack of information about available resources. After learning about U.S.VETS in 2022 from a cousin’s friend, she received assistance through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) and stayed in a hotel for eight to nine months.
“I think organizations like this are so important,” Caldwell told The Informer. “People are hurting and people are struggling, and I just wish that more veterans knew that these programs existed, because I didn’t.”
In 2025, U.S.VETS and its SSVF program connected the mother of three to an apartment in Long Beach, California, assisting her with six months of rent. The nonprofit also helped connect Caldwell with her service benefits for income stability.
With this unwavering assistance and support, the National Guard veteran was able to save money, rebuild her credit and qualify for a loan that helped her purchase a home in Southern California in spring 2026. THDF also awarded Caldwell a $10,000 gift card at its Washington event in October to go toward updating and decorating the property.
“We put ourselves out there to serve our country, and I feel like if you do that [you] deserve to get a handout sometimes,” Caldwell told The Informer.
This was something she revealed she had an incredibly difficult time accepting, despite her commendable efforts to persist through adversity to provide her family with the best, most secure lives possible.
“I didn’t feel like a success story … and I don’t feel like a big deal,” she continued. “I feel like a mom who failed a lot and made a lot of mistakes, but I got help and pulled myself out.”
Vincent doesn’t view the assistance U.S.VETS, THDF and similar organizations provide as a handout, but rather as a helping hand. He was fortunate enough to have his family as a strong support system following his service, and is committed to helping those who don’t have the same privilege.
The U.S.VETS CEO wants veterans in need to understand that assistance isn’t something that is deserved, but something that is earned, and that they have undoubtedly earned it.
“It is our job to hug them until they can hug themselves again, and it is our job to let them lean on us until they can lean on themselves again,” Vincent told The Informer. “You earned it because you’re a human being, and every human being deserves and earns the chance to do something for themselves. It’s our job to open doors for them.”
