Veterans Home Population Down 48 Percent In Last 15 Years

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/06/2025) Michigan’s veterans’ home population decreased 48 percent from Fiscal Year 2008 to FY 2023, a House Fiscal Agency (HFA) analyst said on Thursday, raising questions as to where this older population is going.

HFA analyst Aaron Meek told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military and Veterans Affairs (MVA) that the MVA’s three veterans' homes comprise 38 percent of the budget – or $105.2 million.

Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford) questioned why there has been a drastic drop in the veterans’ home population.

Meek said he couldn’t speak to specifics, but “my hunch is that a lot of it just has to do with attrition and a shrinking overall veterans' population.”

The Michigan Veterans Facility Authority (MVFA), which oversees the state’s three veterans' homes and the Michigan Veteran Homes Administration as well as the Grand Rapids Veterans Cemetery, received 94 percent – or $97.3 million – of the funds allocated to the MVFA.

Federal funds, he noted, make up about half of MVFA’s FY 2025 budget, including $39.9 million earmarked for the veterans’ homes, Meek said.

Rep. Julie Rogers (D-Kalamazoo), who has 15,000 veterans in Kalamazoo County, questioned how much of the budget is federal pass-through dollars and Meek replied as a “first brush,” around 50 percent “is probably close, and sounds about right.”

Rogers said that gives her “great pause and great concern” because recent headlines indicate that the federal Veterans Administration is on par to eliminate 83,000 jobs throughout the United States, including in Michigan.

“As we’re looking at reductions at the federal level, we’re talking about potential deep cuts,” she said. “I do have concerns, and I am looking forward to working with our Chair and colleagues to see how we can shore that up in Michigan – to make sure that we’re continuing to deliver for our veterans.”

Over the years, the MVA appropriations has increased 44 percent in aggregate – or about 5.7 percent per year – since 2011, Meek noted.

The committee asked for more information on funding sources for Veteran Service Organizations and an overall percentage of federal pass-through dollars, which Meek said he’d provide at a later time.