WASHINGTON—Though it has made much progress, the Department of Veterans Affairs is likely to miss its target on two ambitious goals: ending veteran homelessness in 2015 and ending the backlog in disability claims.
The latest count available showed about 50,000 homeless veterans on a single night in January 2014. That’s a decline of 33 percent from January 2010. Results from the January 2015 count are expected later this month.
The disability and pension claims backlog also is on a downward path, although not before the claims processing system became so overwhelmed that lawmakers and veterans groups demanded changes at the VA.
The number of claims pending for more than 125 days soared from about 180,000 at the start of 2010 to more than 611,000 by March of 2013. It now stands at about 76,000.
Those are the kind of trends that politicians would surely like to cite during election season.
Yet, as one crisis began to fade at the VA, another blossomed. Reports of thousands of veterans waiting months and sometimes years for health care have taken priority and colored the way all other issues are viewed.
Investigators looking into delayed care found that inappropriate scheduling practices were a nationwide systemic problem. More than a year after the scandal broke congressional Republicans want to know why the number of employees fired is so low. VA Secretary Robert McDonald faces complaints that he has overstated the number of employees disciplined.
The VA’s reputation suffered another blow earlier this month after two high-ranking officials refused to testify at a congressional hearing on allegations that they manipulated the agency’s hiring system for their own gain. Investigators say they forced lower-ranking regional managers to accept job transfers against their will and then stepped into those vacant positions, keeping their pay while reducing their responsibilities.
Veterans groups have always viewed the twin goals of ending homeless and the disability claim backlog with a healthy dose of reality. They’re generally encouraged by the trend lines.
“If you don’t meet your goals, it doesn’t necessarily mean failure,” said Joe Davis, a spokesman at Veterans of Foreign Wars. “You have to think big if you’re going to do big.”
The VA has been focused on getting the homeless into housing immediately and paying for it with a voucher that subsidizes most or all of the rent. The VA then works to provide the veterans with counseling, health care and other benefits.
