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upworthy

Camaron Stevenson

Of the nearly 600,000 people who experience homelessness on any given night in the United States, more than 40,000 are veterans.

But in the city of Riverside, California, that number has dropped to something known as "functional zero."

The city has maintained functional zero — meaning the number of people experiencing homelessness is less than the monthly housing placement rate — since 2016.

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This homeless high schooler just graduated in 2 years with a full-ride scholarship.

One of D.C.’s 4,000 homeless youth just received an amazing opportunity.

Destyni Tyree was 16 and living in a homeless shelter when she was voted prom queen and graduated high school two years early.

All photos via Destyni Tyree, used with permission.

A few years before graduation, Destyni’s family fell on particularly hard times. Her mother lost her job, and not long after, they lost their apartment, too. They ended up at the D.C. General Homeless Center, a city-run shelter that houses about 270 families.

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These renovated motels will help homeless veterans start new lives.

L.A. is creating 500 new housing units with this smart plan.

In 2015, Los Angeles declared a state of emergency because of their "unprecedented and growing homelessness crisis."

Since then, L.A. city and county agencies have executed a series of actions, and while homelessness overall has had a slight rise in 2016 — not quite 6% over 2015 figures — the number of veterans without homes has gone down 30%, meaning over 1,200 have obtained places to live.

L.A.'s most recent undertaking is different, though: The city will convert old motels into 500 permanent apartments for veterans who are homeless.

If everything goes according to plan, the 500 units, built with help from Step Up, will be available for veterans to move into by January 2017. Coupled with the 300 units the city already provides to homeless residents, L.A. is on track to create 800 permanent housing units annually.

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Note: This story contains descriptions of sexual violence.

When Beth Jacobs was 16, she was drugged, kidnapped, and forced into prostitution.

She says that her captor took her to a truck stop and forced her to have sex with a man who asked for a discount afterward because she “cried too much.”

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