Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte has signed on for the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness on behalf of the City of Goleta.

This initiative is a partnership of organizations and mayors determined to end veteran homelessness in their community in 2015. This means getting to the point where there are no veterans sleeping on the streets and every veteran has access to permanent housing.

“Nationally the program has been a tremendous success, but there are still too many veterans without permanent housing. It’s important that we, as a community, recognize the dedication and sacrifices of our veterans and work to end homelessness for this segment of our population,” Perotte said. “Together we can continue to make a difference.”

According to the 2014 count, the number of veterans who are homeless is down by 33 percent since the initiative began in 2010.

One of the goals of the initiative is to work to provide systems so that should veterans become homeless or be at-risk of becoming homeless, communities will have the ability to quickly connect them to the assistance they need to achieve housing stability.

To date, a total of 474 leaders have said on, including 355 mayors, seven governors and 112 county and city officials.

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— Valerie Kushnerov is a public information officer for the City of Goleta.