Federal News Network – Veterans homelessness is down 49% since the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs began an inter-agency effort to tackle the issue nine years ago.More specifically, about 77 communities and three states across the country have declared an effective end to veterans homelessness, Hunter Kurtz, assistant secretary for public and Indian housing at HUD, told a handful of members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee at a field hearing in San Diego, California, last week.