USA More Than 100,000 Homeless US Soldiers Roaming The Streets

[rajneesh madhok]

More Than 100,000 homeless U.S. Soldiers Roaming Streets
Brunei News.Net Friday 9th April, 2010

Disturbingly 107,000 former U.S. soldiers are roaming the streets of the nation they fought to protect.

The soldiers, most of whom returned home from wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, are homeless.

No-one who has ever served the United States in uniform should ever end up living on the street, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki insists.

VA is so concerned about the problem it has implemented a program to eliminate it - in the next five years. The association doesn't just want to provide beds for the veterans, but wants to tackle the root cause of homelessness among former U.S. troops, and extend its reach to education, healthcare, and the provision of jobs.

It could be a tall order, but already the number of homeless soldiers is showing signs of decreasing. This despite the most severe recession since World War Two. Since the program's implementation last Fall, the number has decreased by 18% from 131,000 to 107,000.

“When I arrived at VA, the homeless program primarily involved engaging the veterans that sleep on the streets and getting them to shelter,” Shinseki told Donna Miles of the American Forces Press Service this week. “The deeper I dug into it, I realized it assured that we’d be dealing with homeless veterans forever, because the system is reactive. You wait to see who shows up on the street, you go out and try to encourage them to leave the streets and provide them safe shelter and warm meals.”

To break that spiral, 85% of VA’s budget request for the homeless program will go toward medical services to confront substance abuse, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other issues linked to homelessness.

“I looked at it as a funnel, and out of the bottom comes a homeless person,” Shinseki said. “Well, in the funnel, there is the missed opportunity of education. It’s the missed opportunity to have a job.”

The new Post-9/11 GI Bill signed into law in June will make education more accessible for more veterans, as well as a broad range of other VA-funded educational programs. Meanwhile, VA says it is working through the interagency process and with a host of other organizations to improve veterans’ job opportunities.

“This is not about reducing homelessness. This is ending veteran homelessness in five years,” the VA secretary said. “I don’t have all the answers about how this will all happen, but a lot of people are committed to this and working to prevent this downward spiral.”

Rajneesh Madhok

http://www.israelnews.net/story/621986
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[kds1980]

Re: More than 100,000 homeless U.S. Soldiers roaming streets

And I use to Think India is the only country where retired lower rank soldiers are not treated well by Govt

 

[Admin]

Re: More Than 100,000 homeless U.S. Soldiers Roaming Streets

How are Israel US relations? Is there any independent source on this information? This is the only link http://www.israelnews.net/story/621986 where this story is posted except for SPN.

 

[spnadmin]

Re: More Than 100,000 homeless U.S. Soldiers Roaming Streets

My guess is, rajneesh ji, that you are a person who is always feeling compassion for people who are down and out. You saw this article and you were concerned about the inability of the US government to care for these homeless souls.

The lack of funding for retired soldiers is always an on-going political conversation in the US. Retired military have a strong lobby, but this particular problem is and has been very difficult to solve since GI's returned from the Vietnam War, in many cases either addicted to drugs or suffering from terrible mental trauma.

The story needs more historical context in order to be understood in a truthful way.

Some aspect of funding and policy is turning the problem around, and it is evident that there are officials who care:

The new Post-9/11 GI Bill signed into law in June will make education more accessible for more veterans, as well as a broad range of other VA-funded educational programs. Meanwhile, VA says it is working through the interagency process and with a host of other organizations to improve veterans’ job opportunities.

The story says, the number of homeless is decreasing, so something positive is happening.

It could be a tall order, but already the number of homeless soldiers is showing signs of decreasing. This despite the most severe recession since World War Two. Since the program's implementation last Fall, the number has decreased by 18% from 131,000 to 107,000.

Homeless veterans typically been, not only ex-soldiers, but also drug addicts and the mentally ill, and both are difficult groups to assist because they do not want to be forced to live in government hostels.

There are other positive indications in the article.

To break that spiral, 85% of VA’s budget request for the homeless program will go toward medical services to confront substance abuse, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other issues linked to homelessness.

And the key to lowering the number even more is pitched to be funding for education.
BTW thanks for bringing it up for discussion.

 

[spnadmin]

Re: More Than 100,000 homeless U.S. Soldiers Roaming Streets

How are Israel US relations? Is there any independent source on this information? This is the only link http://www.israelnews.net/story/621986 where this story is posted except for SPN.

Aman ji

This problem has been persistent and one that has been ongoing. So I do not doubt the author's account, and definitely do not see it as an exaggeration. With a more little digging, we might be able to find some other similar articles on this subject.

I did not find recent news article, but I did find this from the web site of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans

[B]FAQ about Homeless Veterans[/B]

Who are homeless veterans?

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) states the nation’s homeless veterans are predominantly male, with roughly five percent being female. The majority of them are single; come from urban areas; and suffer from mental illness, alcohol and/or substance abuse, or co-occurring disorders. About one-third of the adult homeless population are veterans.

America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, the Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq (OEF/OIF), and the military’s anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America. Nearly half of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam era. Two-thirds served our country for at least three years, and one-third were stationed in a war zone.

Roughly 56 percent of all homeless veterans are African American or Hispanic, despite only accounting for 12.8 percent and 15.4 percent of the U.S. population respectively.

About 1.5 million other veterans, meanwhile, are considered at risk of homelessness due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.

How many homeless veterans are there?

Although flawless counts are impossible to come by – the transient nature of homeless populations presents a major difficulty – VA estimates that 107,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Over the course of a year, approximately twice that many experience homelessness. Only eight percent of the general population can claim veteran status, but nearly one-fifth of the homeless population are veterans.

http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm



A for relations with Israel, imho The US State Department is always happier when a less extreme, conservative government is in power in Israel.