Mission Zero: No Veteran Left Behind

At the beginning of this year, when I took office, I made a simple promise: no one who served our country should ever have to sleep on the streets.

That was the idea behind Mission Zero, a city-led pilot project to identify every veteran experiencing homelessness and connect them to the housing and services they’ve earned.

We started small, meeting veterans where they were. In partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs, we hosted a Homeless Veterans Surge Event at Harris Riverfront Park, walking the riverbanks, visiting camps, and saying face to face, You’re not forgotten.

Soon after, we joined the VA again at a Stand Down at the Homeless Veterans Resource Center, hearing directly from men and women who wore the uniform about what it means to come home and find the support they need.

Then we built on that momentum. The City organized its first-ever Landlord Education Event to open more doors for veterans. Working with the Huntington Housing Authority, we began to bring back online two once-vacant apartment buildings, creating fourteen new units reserved for those who served.

Nationwide, more than 30,000 veterans are experiencing homelessness. Here in Huntington, during our January count, we identified 15 veterans experiencing homelessness that night.

Today, every one of those veterans has been offered housing, and every known veteran in Huntington now receives a housing placement within 30 days of identification.

That milestone—that’s what gratitude looks like when it turns into action. It happened because the City and our partners came together with one mission: to leave no veteran behind.

But the work isn’t finished.

While we can stabilize someone in temporary housing within that first month, more than half of long-term placements still take longer than 30 days. Closing that gap will take continued partnership with landlords, the Housing Authority, and every organization at the table.

Mission Zero isn’t just about housing. It’s about keeping faith with those who’ve served. It’s about working together, breaking down silos, and turning promises into results. The lessons we’re learning through this pilot will help us better serve every person experiencing homelessness in our city.

I love Veterans Day. The band, the flags, the faces in the park remind us why this work matters.

But as the years go by, the crowds grow smaller. The best way to honor those who served is to carry that spirit forward by serving each other again.

Here in Huntington, we’re showing what gratitude looks like when it becomes action.

And together, we’ll keep that promise.

Happy Veterans Day to everyone who served.