this room. you give veterans hope, dignity, homes, and real chances of a future. that is the never-ending story here. it needs to be told, retold, but told well. since 2009, v.a. has proven it can fix problems, even big ones, with the support of our public and private partners. we learned to better focus our talents and resources. five years ago, i did not really know how many veterans were homeless. there are a number of estimates. or, what really caused homelessness. since then, we settled on an annual point in time count to peg our estimates. today we better understand what factors contribute to homelessness, depression, insomnia, pain, substance use disorder, failed relationships,

and usually the last is a product of the first four. we can now begin to focus specific treatments to address each of those factors. they are treatable. they are medical conditions. we are a large health care system. and in the process, create a database for predictive research so we understand what causes homelessness and what we can do to prevent it. so we can and the rescue phase of getting people off streets by preventing them from ending up there. in 2010, we established the national registry for homeless veterans that captured facts and information on individual homeless veterans. it reduced a trove of data, which we will use to support research well into the future. the registry now includes 750,000 veterans who are, have been homeless, or are at risk of

being homeless. in 2010, we launched the homeless veterans call center, which has referred nearly 200,000 veterans for help. in 2012, we begin screening veterans seeking health care, asking if they have a home or if they are at risk of losing it. last year we screened 4.3 million veterans, and identified 36,000 is homeless -- as homeless, and 42,000 at risk of homelessness. with this kind of information, you can do summing about it or it in 2012 we established our first community resource and referral center -- it. in 2012 we established our first community resource and referral center. not putting up the center where it was convenient for us, but

fighting to get downtown for where homeless vets congregated. today we have 27 in operation. a number of course dedicated to handling veterans cases has increased her medically. five years ago, we probably had four or five veterans courts in the nation. today there are 260 in operation, and everyone of them has a v.a. medical center in direct support of the judge, giving him an option. homelessness and involvement in the justice system seem to go hand-in-hand. in 2009, we launched the outrage

-- outreach that works directly with veterans courts and the judges to see the veterans get the care they need and keep them out of trouble as well as off the streets. we recently created the veterans reentry search service to help corrections officials to help our 1200 federal and state penitentiaries. by uploading their lists and running the comparison against our veteran database, they can identify veteran inmates for us. with this information, 44 full-time specialists can connect with soon to be released veterans, connecting them with the services they need to help

prevent homelessness and and re-incarceration. those are all examples of effective outreach, wrapping her arms around the problem by getting in touch with veterans, getting in touch with veterans, whether issues such as finding out who needs help and who receives it. it is not primarily a mental health problem as we thought five years ago. substance abuse issues are a major factor, nv a treatment for substance abuse can make a big difference a homeless veterans life -- and v.a. treatment for substance abuse can make a big difference in a homeless veteran's life. three years ago in this forum, i questioned whether we had the courage to ask ourselves if we were contributing to substance use issues by over medicating our patients.

you gave me a towering response then. i kept asking the question. i have gone to other audiences, asking the same question, including with d.o.d. we have developed and implemented a joint pain management guideline that encourages the use of other medications, alternative therapies. [applause] they have cut the use of high-dose meds by 50% and all but eliminated oxycodone. [applause]

oxycodone down by 99%, without putting people on the street. what else are we doing? in the past five years we shifted to a housing first approach. some results, emergency room visits down 27%. inpatient hospitalizations down 33%. inpatient costs down 54%. total v.a. health care costs down 32%. [applause]

v.a.'s grant per diem program, our supportive program for veteran's families, are the engines for housing first. we cannot end homelessness without these programs. over 45,000 veterans and their families have homes to live in. my thanks to the secretary and all the good folks for their generous partnership in that program. keep that coming. [applause] last year, community partners afforded by a grant provided temporary housing to over 45,000 veterans, and nearly 14,000 of them were spared further homelessness by moving straight to permanent housing elsewhere,

some with the assistance of vouchers. they assisted over 60,000 veterans and family members last fiscal year, including more than 20,000 individuals under 18. 79% of homeless veterans' families found permanent housing. v.a.'s benefits administration has a similar program to help veterans who have defaulted on their v.a. insured mortgage loans. last year, 74,000 veterans defaulted and were kept from foreclosure and eviction because the v.a. worked things out with their lenders, extending payment

periods. that is another 74,000 veterans who did not end up on the streets. [applause] prevention is a long-term commitment. we are not just rescuing veterans already homeless. that is important too. that is what we targeted to be complete in 2015. we are actively preventing veterans and their families from becoming homeless. this is the way forward for this coalition, melding our operations with the efficient community-based system of services so that more cities can say that salt lake city and phoenix can say they have ended chronic veteran homelessness. [applause] we have turned the tide. we found a strategy that works. we have reduced veterans' homelessness by 24% between 2010 and 2013, during a period of

tough economy, when historically homelessness surges. [applause] my point here is, now is not the time to let up or get complacent, any of us, any of us in this room. with our goals in sight, we have targeted 2015 for reaching a major goal. many communities across the country are within sight of that goal. we all need to work harder and smarter towards achieving what we said we would in 2015. this coalition can end veteran'' homelessness next year. so, let's get on with it. [applause]

again, thanks for your hard work. it is the lord's work. i am honored to have been in this fight for justice with all of you. god bless all of you. [applause] thank you all very much. i'm going to make a short closing comment. i wanted to get my thank you's early. before i close, let me address the elephant in the room today. you all have been very generous and polite. after wednesday's release of an interim inspector general

report, we now know that v.a. has a systemic, totally unacceptable lack of integrity within some of our veterans' health facilities. that breach of trust involved the tracking of patient wait times for appointments. our initial findings of our ongoing internal review of other large v.a. facilities also show that to be true. that breach of integrity is irresponsible indefensible and , unacceptable to me. i said when the situation began weeks to months ago, that i thought the problem was limited and isolated because i believe that. i no longer believe it. it is systemic. i was too trusting of some, and i accepted as accurate reports that i now know to have been misleading with regard to patient wait times. i cannot explain the lack of integrity among some of the

leaders of our health care facilities. this is something i rarely encounter during 30 years in -- 38 years in uniform. i will not defend it, because it's indefensible. but i can take responsibility for it. and i do. given the facts i now know, i apologize as the senior leader of veterans' affairs. i extend apologies to the people i care most about, and that is the veterans of this great country, to their families and loved ones whom i have been honored to serve for over five years now. i also offer that apology to members of congress who have supported me, to veteran service organizations who have been my partners for five years, and to the american people. all of them deserve better from

their v.a. i also know that leadership and integrity problems can and must be fixed. [applause] i'm just announcing and taking the following actions. i've initiated the process for the removal of the senior leaders at the phoenix v.a. medical center. [applause] we will use all authority at our disposal to enforce accountability among senior leaders found to have instigated, tolerated irresponsible scheduling practices at v.a. health care facilities.

i have directed that no vha senior executive will receive any type of performance award for 2014. i have directed the patient wait times be deleted from vha employees' evaluation reports as a measure of their success. [applause] we are contacting each of the 1700 veterans in phoenix waiting for appointments to bring them the care they need and deserve, and we will continue to accelerate access to care for veterans nationwide, both in and outside of v.a. [applause] we will announce the results of the nationwide audit of all v.a. health facilities in the coming

days. congress to support -- i ask congress to support bernie sanders proposed bill giving the v.a. secretary greater authority to remove senior leaders. [applause] and i asked the support of congress to fill existing v.a. leadership positions that are still vacant. [applause] this situation can be fixed, with v.a., congress, and all of our stakeholders working together with the best interest of the veterans that hard, we can do this in the days ahead, just as we have done in the past. we can do this. we need all of your help. god bless our veterans, those especially in greatest needs of our prayers.

may god continue to bless this wonderful country of ours. thank you. [applause] >> next, president obama announcing the resignation of eric shinseki after their closed-door meeting at the white house. his news conferences 20 minutes. >> good morning, everybody. ago, secretary shinseki and rob neighbors, who i have temporarily assigned to work with the v.a., presented me

with the department's initial review of v.a. facilities nationwide. what they found is that the misconduct has not been limited to a few v.a. facilities, but many across the country. .his is totally unacceptable our veterans deserve the best. they have earned it. last week i said that if we found misconduct, it would be punished, and i meant it. theetary shinseki has begun process of firing many of the people responsible, including senior leaders at the v.a.. he has canceled any possible performance bonuses this year for vha senior executives and he has ordered the v.a. to personally contact every veteran in phoenix reading for appointments to get them the care that they need and that they deserve. this morning i think some of you also heard ric take a truly remarkable action in public remarks. he took responsibility for the facilities ande

apologized to his fellow veterans and to the american people. a few minutes ago, secretary shinseki offered me his own resignation. with considerable regret, i accepted. eric shinseki has served his country with honor for nearly 50 years. he did two tours of combat in vietnam. he is a veteran who left a part of himself on the battlefield. he rose to command the first cavalry division, served as army chief of staff, and has never been afraid to speak truth to power. the secretary of the v.a., he presided over record investments in our veterans, and rolling 2 million new veterans in health care, delivering more disability pay to veterans of agent orange, helping deal with posttraumatic

stress, brain injury, improving care for our women's veterans -- women veterans. he helped reduce veteran homelessness and helped more than one million veterans, servicemembers, and their families pursue their education under the post 9/11 g.i. bill. his commitment to veterans is unquestioned. the service to our country is exemplary. i am grateful for his service, as are many veterans across the country. he has worked hard to investigate and identify the .roblems with access to care but as he told me this morning, .he v.a. needs new leadership he does not want to be at the -- a distraction because his priority is to get our veterans the care they need. that was his judgment on behalf is