pleased at the level of cooperation and collaboration with two of the military partners, secretary shinseki and i know that janet kemp is here with the office of mental health and that has been a terrific effort on all kinds of fronts, this being among them, but we're working on veterans homelessness and a whole series of activities, and also, secretary leon panetta, who will follow me because he has a deep and personal interest in this area. i don't think there's any more important work than taking care of those who have stood up to protect our nation. our men and women in uniform put their lives on the line for us each and every day and we need to be there for them when they return. now, what we know about the snapshot of soldiers today is that they carry an especially heavy burden and have over the last decade. there have been longer deployments, more frequent redeployments, shorter breaks in between. the stress has been more constant not only on the active duty military but certainly on their families. tragically, as a consequence, we've seen suicide rates continue to rise among service

what i would offer is what do represent shinseki and i need to do to shake the system -- >> i really appreciate that commitment. i know you have not been there the entire five years, but i will tell you this, we've been told for five years that they are sitting down on a regular basis addressing this, and i'm talking to soldiers that are stuck in the disability evaluation system. there are bureaucratic delays. the people that are supposed to be helping them they're training them because they've been in the system longer than the trainers that are supposed to work with them. their families are facing horrendous challenges as they try to figure out what the future brings months on end. >> you want to hear who the people at the bottom who are in it are saying. i totally appreciate what you're hearing for a long time. we need recommendations and we need to move forward and we need to be a top priority out of the pentagon andas we transition out of the pentagon, this will be more simple. add to that, a complexities that behavioral health places. and you have ptsd and what's going back and

thankfully we have a president who has really stood behind us and our secretary shinseki who has made it a lofty goal to make sure we end homelessness for veterans by 2015. i am so thankful we have a city team, who everybody has been talking about keeping our collaboration with hud has been outstanding and incredible and the pha has been remarkable about the things they have been able to do and finish. bevin dufty, thank you very much for taking this from the san francisco boot camp and making sure this happens. to our landlords, thank you very much. it is so important to have those landlords, and we could use more. and have so many homeless veterans to come to this city. it is very important to make sure they are housed. our shelter system. i can say enough about that, joyce. they are the first line in defense in getting those veterans of the street and getting them housed. our community partners. i have been working with them for 20 years. for me coming it is so important to have that community partnership. they have been so instrumental in getting them housed. clothes, jobs, traini

thankfully we have a president who has really stood behind us and our secretary shinseki who has made it a lofty goal to make sure we end homelessness for veterans by 2015. i am so thankful we have a city team, who everybody has been talking about keeping our collaboration with hud has been outstanding and incredible and the pha has been remarkable about the things they have been able to do and finish. bevin dufty, thank you very much for taking this from the san francisco boot camp and making sure h

thankfully we have a president who has really stood behind us and our secretary shinseki who has made it a lofty goal to make sure we end homelessness

in fact, secretary shinseki has declared that va will eliminate homelessness, or end homelessness, and so there has been a 5-year plan in place to end homelessness among veterans, which includes a comprehensive constellation of programs and services for individuals that are homeless. to address homelessness, though, it's not just a matter, of course, of providing housing. that is one important aspect to make sure the individuals are in comfortable, secure surroundings. but it's also critical to address the mental health problems that a lot of homeless individuals have, as you noted. and so we have, in va, a variety of programs that address both aspects and oftentimes very much together, where we have residential treatment programs that specialize in providing individuals with that secure and safe surrounding, while they're initially receiving intensive care that they may need. and then following that, there is a range of additional services for homeless individuals so that they can get their lives back. and that doesn't only include shelter and emotional health; it's an important part,

that is why secretary donovan has been our inform with secretary shinseki to end homelessness by 2015. when i was listening to deputy secretary gould i am familiar with the interventions. hud has interventions also. there is no single solutions cahal. one of the things that does matter i have seen between the hud and the the a what i have seen has been phenomenal with great man gauge meant of this housing program reignited as a program thinks to senator murray and i had us chance by a half helped to create hud/bash trying to solve homelessness. it was a fantastic success. there are few examples i have never seen where two agencies work together well to code mr. a single program. it is not easy to do. one entity may not be good everything. but today to there are 40,000 vouchers and it makes a huge difference because the vast majority goes to those who are chronically homeless for extended period of time and without a permanent solution will never get off the street and cost exorbitant amount of funds. it cost about $50,000 to do nothing because they bounce around from hospitals and jai

secretaries shinseki and i have been meeting on a regular basis to try to do what we can to implement improvements and very frankly we are not satisfied either by the progress that is being made. part of this bureaucratic and part of it is the systems. >> a bureaucratic -- if you are in this system -- i see it every day. i am in charge of a very big bureaucracy and the fact is sometimes just the bureaucratic nature of the large departments presents it from being agile enough to respond and do what needs to be done, so a large part of this is just making sure that people are willing to operate out of the box and do what needs to be done to improve the system's. but all i would offer to you is what secretary shinseki and i sit down with you and walk through the steps we are taking to try to see if we can shake the system. .. >> i totally appreciate you saying that to me, but sitting down and talking is something we have been hearing for a long time. we need recommendations and we need to move forward and we need this to be a top priority at the pentagon, as we transition now out of afgh

and under my boss' leadership, secretary shinseki, we moved out smartly to make good on that pledge.nd together we set an ambitious goal, a crazy goal, a wildly out of bounds goal in washington d.c. we said we would end veterans' homelessness by 2015. now, for those of you who haven't lived in washington for a while, you know that it's just a great fib. you've actually said a measurable outcome, and you've time phased it. and it would be so easy to say it's an aspiration or something we're going to do in the future, but the president and secretary shinseki were going to end it, and now that's just three years from now, and now we're holding ourselves accountable from moving down that line to zero. and the president and congress have stepped forward with the funding to get the job done. we had in 2009 $376 million at our disposal for rescue. now, va has billions of dollars that it puts into prevention on the health care side, but rescue was underfunded. we moved to a billion dollars in 2012. the 2013 budget request is for $1.3 billion. but we know that that commitment and compassion a

i totally appreciate you saying that to me today, but sitting down and talking to secretary shinseki is something we have been hearing for a long time. we need recommendations. we need to look forward. we need this to be a top priority at the pentagon as we transition out of afghanistan. this will not give more simple. there'll be more complete -- add to that the ongoing complexities of reviewing all of these cases -- you have people who are in the system right now who are saying, what will happen to me when you review all these people? are we putting in more personnel to deal with this, or will i have to take another back seat? this is complex. it is hard. it is, -- problematic. but it needs every single effort we talked about. >> i share all of your frustrations. my job is to make sure that we do not come here with more excuses, but that we come here with action. >> i truly appreciate that comment. i want to work with you. all my efforts are at your disposal. we do a fantastic job of training our men and women to go into the service. we still today have not gotten this right after

that's one reason why secretary donovan from hud has been arm in arm with secretary shinseki at the van tiny ways to literally and veterans homelessness by 2015. it's very complex. when i was listening to deputy secretary gould, he identified a number of different interventions, and because of have the chance to work with va for a while, i'm familiar with intervention. just like the va, hud has interventions because we realize there is no single, simple solution to ending federal homelessness or homelessness in general. one of the key things that really does matter that's harder to measure used key working relationships. and i certainly have seen, for instance, between hud nba, while we have worked there for a long, long time to do what i've seen in the last three or four years has been phenomenal in terms of really a great read engagement around this program that scott gould talked about, the housing program. it was reignited as a program in 2008, thanks to the leadership of senator murray, and i had the chance of being on a small team, about 20 years ago to create hud, there was two

some of you may remember when general shinseki, then the chief of staff of the army, now secretary of the veterans department, but he was asked at a hearing how many troops do you think it'll take, general? he said a couple of hundred thousand. and he was immediately criticize ed by the leadership of the department of defense the next day. as saying it can't be right. we don't agree with the general. this is a general who's lost a leg in vietnam, who's been around for about 30-odd years, who was involved in the balkans. he knows a little bit about all of this, but his judgment was immediately dismissed because we didn't expect that to happen. well, the things that you don't expect to happen are the things that you plan for and be ready for when they do happen. >> come pounding this, you write in the book that the decision had been made to keep the iraqi army in uniform so that they could help to main tape order in the country -- maintain order in the country once the regime was decapitated. and you were quite surprised when paul bremer, the man who was the u.s. chief of the operation

i am proud of the strong working relationship that i have built with secretary shinseki, and i agree that our two departments are working closely, more than ever before. it is essential we are going to have to build a partnership if we are going to address issues like suicide. this issue, suicide, is perhaps the most frustrating challenge that i have come across since becoming secretary of defense last year. despite the increased efforts, the increased attention, the trends continue to move in a troubling and tragic direction. all of us gathered here share a very deep concern about this issue and about the trends we are seeing. we also share a commitment to take action to do everything possible to prevent these horrible tragedies and to support those who have served our country with honor and with distinction. greatest frustration, greatest frustration is that there are no easy answers here. there are no quick fixes. there are no simple solutions. that does not mean that we cannot do more to prevent it from happening. we can do more. we must do more. and together, we will do more. fi

i am proud of the strong working relationship that i have built with secretary shinseki, and i agreements are working closely, more than ever before. it is essential we are going to bill that cut a partnership if we are born to address issues like suicide. this issue, suicide, is perhaps the most frustrating challenge that i have come across since becoming secretary of defense last year. despite the increased efforts, the increased attention, the trends continue to move in a troubling and tragic direction. all of us gathered here share a very deep concern about this issue and about the trends we are seeing. we also share a commitment to take action to do everything possible to prevent these horrible tragedies and to support those who have served our country with honor and with distinction. greatest frustration, greatest frustration is that there are no easy answers here. there are no quick fixes. there are no simple solutions. that does not mean that we cannot do more to prevent it from happening. we can do more. we must do more. and together, we will do more. first, it is important