Managing the unexpected: The role of homeless service providers during the 2017–2018 California wildfires

People experiencing homelessness during the 2017–2018 California wildfires faced significant risks of disruption. Homeless service organizations (HSOs) are an essential safety net for this population. To learn about how HSOs performed during the wildfires, this study interviewed U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) staff overseeing HSOs providing transitional housing under the VA's Grant and Per Diem (GPD) program to Veterans experiencing homelessness. We employed a comparative case study approach exploring GPD organizations' disaster response actions, including evacuating Veterans from wildfire‐affected areas or taking in disaster‐displaced Veterans. This article presents three themes in the GPD organizations' disaster response: (1) Organizations benefitted from close collaboration and communication with the VA during the disaster, creating a safety net to ensure Veterans' well‐being and enact rapid re‐housing to prevent homelessness; (2) Organization staff performed heroically under stressful disaster conditions; and (3) Organizations benefitted from the written disaster plans that VA requires them to create, but were not as well‐prepared for wildfires as they had been for earthquakes. As emergent threats such as the COVID‐19 pandemic, wildfires, and a very active 2020 hurricane season amplify the importance of mitigating risks, comprehensive disaster planning is needed to ensure the safety and support of people experiencing homelessness.