# Keeping the front door open: Preventing homelessness through the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans

> **NIH VA I01** · BIRMINGHAM VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · —

## Abstract

Background: Between 2009–2020, VA implemented primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions to prevent
and end homelessness among Veterans, resulting in a 50% reduction in Veteran homelessness. The need to
prevent new episodes of homelessness remains; the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans (NCCHV) is
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to connect Veterans with resources to address housing instability.
During a 2-year period, 60% of the 110,000 Veterans who contacted NCCHV reported being at risk of
homelessness.
Significance: The proposed study provides the opportunity to assess how NCCHV links Veterans who are at
risk of homelessness with needed services to mitigate their housing instability, which is an important social
determinant of health. This study is supported specifically by the Homeless Program Office and the U.S.
Interagency Council on Homelessness.
Innovation & Impact: Unlike other major initiatives to prevent and end homelessness among Veterans,
NCCHV has not yet been studied; the proposed study will use NCCHV data linked with other administrative
data sources and qualitative methods to explore homelessness prevention among Veterans, which will have
important implications for the field at large.
Specific Aims: (1) Describe characteristics and needs of Veterans accessing NCCHV using existing
administrative data collected through NCCHV and VA’s electronic health record. (2) Assess Veterans’
outcomes following contact with NCCHV. (3) Identify optimal practices for linking Veterans with services
following a contact to NCCHV.
Methodology: This concurrent mixed methods study will include retrospective quantitative analyses examining
Veterans’ contacts with NCCHV, quantitative and qualitative methods assessing how Veterans who are
engaged with VA care are connected with services and associated outcomes (e.g., long -term housing stability,
health care use, mortality), and observations of NCCHV responders and qualitative interviews with key
informants exploring how providers connect Veterans with care following an NCCHV contact and identifying
effective strategies.
Next Steps/Implementation: This study is intended to identify optimal practices to ensure Veterans are
connected with needed resources; future research may develop and study specific interventions to improve
access to care and the prevention of homelessness. From a practice perspective, this study will identify
intervention points for homelessness prevention as well as effective practices to further implement .

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10638160
- **Project number:** 1I01HX003608-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** BIRMINGHAM VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Ann Elizabeth Montgomery
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-10-01 → 2026-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10638160

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10638160, Keeping the front door open: Preventing homelessness through the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans (1I01HX003608-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10638160. Licensed CC0.

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