There is a Problem and the VA is not stepping up to the plate to address it.
It should be obvious by now that our homeless veterans are not being served well at all. If the homeless veterans were properly cared for by our country, the total homeless population would fall by more than 40 percent over night.
Homeless services would then have sufficient funding to move many of the rest of the homeless off the streets into transitional housing with services that bring them back into the working population. It would be a dream come true. If only our country would step up to the plate, homelessness in our country would be virtually eliminated. If only….
Lets Summarize the Homeless Veteran Situation.
750,000 total homeless count in U.S
400,000 veterans are homeless at some time in a year
200,000 veterans homeless in any one night
27% of our male U.S. population are veterans but:
43% of all homeless males are veterans – why?
7688 beds funded by the VA for homeless veterans
192,312 sleeping elsewhere – shelters, grates, creekbeds, back alleys. We have Heroes sleeping on sidewalks in every big city.
The VA says homelessness is not related to military service, but:
Veterans are twice as likely to be homeless than civilians
You may think that homeless veterans served poorly in military, but:
95% of homeless vets have honorable discharges
The VA claims it has the largest network of homeless assistance programs in the country, but:
Total VA funding is only $1.37 per homeless vet per day.
VA funded beds provide for only 1 of every 26 homeless vets
VA funds only 7688 beds for 200,000 homeless veterans on any given night of the year.Current (2007) grants cover only 1 bed per 192 mentally ill homeless veterans, and allocates only 14 cents a day per mentally ill veteran. Fifteen states get none of these grant monies, 15 more get grants for one organization in the state, and 20 get the bulk of the funding.
The VA announced a 20% reduction in homeless vets over the last 6 years, but failed to say it was due to the way they count them. The number they reported hasn’t changed in the last four years. During the same period, more than 23% of our Vietnam vets died.
The mix of homeless veterans has changed in the last 9 years
1997 2006
Korea 1o% 4% almost gone
Vietnam 42% 39% dying out
Gulf War 10% 16% rapidly increasing
Our Korean veterans are getting old and dying out
Our Gulf War veterans are increasing rapidly
Our Vietnam veterans have the largest homeless rate by far.
Fact: If our country stepped up to the plate and provided for our homeless veterans, the homeless population would fall instantly by 43 percent.
Note: To find all of the more than 85 Homeless Veterans articles Click Here
I’ve made a few of the posts dealing with useful facts pages that are listed above the banner at the top of this site. (where you found this one).
Heroes don’t deserve
to be treated like this!
Write your Congressman!
Oldtimer
23 responses so far ↓
Hector Villarreal // August 30, 2007 at 9:54 pm |
We need to make sure our Veterans are taken care of properly. When Johnny goes to war he does not come back the same. It is time we acknowledge that and spend the time to bring them together as a battalion for about 3-4 days and the leadership of that battalion provide some detail in a couple of their major battles so that pieces of the puzzle for most of the soldiers impacted can begin to realize what really happened; what happened to their wounded buddies and who went where when. This will bring a natural “curing” of the anxiety that so many have because no one has been able to answer their questions. Need to start now.
August // September 18, 2007 at 10:37 pm |
They use the “addicted” and “mental” labels to scare the public about homeless veterans. They want the money. Adult veterans do not deserve bunk beds and shared group showers and rotten food bank food. Where doe all the money go? Veterans are not allowed to get real job training in the shelters just “how to write your name” classes.
wanderingvet // November 3, 2007 at 10:34 am |
I had written my Congressman at the time, Rep. Howard Coble of North Carolina via email. I am still awaiting after 120 days for a reply.
I had also written Sen. Elizabeth Dole, also of NC in 2004 when I was having problems ascertaining the whereabouts of my prior service medical records. She assured me via mail that her office would find them. I have followed up with them, to no further response. This is 2007 and I am still awaiting her office to get back to me on this issue also.
If our elected members were not so busy on other things our Warrior Heros would not be having the issues that they have deal with now.
Oldtimer // November 5, 2007 at 2:15 am |
I know how you feel. I have received responses to my letters but they were not satisfactory.
Every time it has been cut and paste from standard responses by staff, likely never seen by the intended recipient.
I’ve come to the conclusion that unless you have some problem that piques the interest of the media, or comes from an organization with paid lobbiests or maybe a very well heeled contributor, that is about all we will get – either no response or canned ones.
My hope is that someday this blog or yours or a similar one draws the attention of someone that can carry the ball into the other court.
The plea to “write your congressman” was made in hope that someday enough writers would get through to warrant second looks at the problem. Every single letter adds up and at some point someone will mention it to the next level.
I did make some little progress on the 2-1-1 calling issue by working my way up the chain of command within the Atlanta Office of United Way, which has the clout and the lobbiests that can reach out to the right people.
Oldtimer
Disabled Veteran // November 9, 2007 at 12:55 pm |
Taking care of the problem means you have to get to the core of the issue. The evaluation and recognition of the various stressors of a combat soldier has allowed the soldier to be viewed in a more sympathetic light. It cannot be easy leaving ones family and loved ones within a secure environment to go to an area that is not only alien but hostile as well. Physical factors may aggravate the stress and fear and personal problems from home would further cause agitation. The depression, anxiety and stress of being deployed in a hostile land has to be taken care of within the hostile environment for better facilitation which is what the army is trying to do. The leaders no longer view stressors of combat as weaknesses rather, they help the soldiers cope and reassess the situation in a healthy way.
Oldtimer // November 9, 2007 at 1:58 pm |
OK, but our government, our VA, our leaders are not addressing the rapidly growing problems of combat stress e.g. PTSD as well as they should, and never have. PTSD is one of the leading problems leading to homelessness among our veterans.
Once homeless, the VA doesn’t really allocate any significant funding to aleive the situation our homeless heroes and their families find themselves in.
One day a year for Stand-Downs and 33 cents a day for grants to selected states for housing, and $1.33 per homeless veteran is just not going to ever do the job.
Oldtimer
Charles Fish // November 23, 2007 at 10:48 am |
I’m glad I stumbled on your site… I am increasingly concerned with the number of Vets I encounter on the streets of Baltimore, and I am saddened we are being treated as a use full tool in times of need, and disposable when no longer required. $1.37 a day per Vet makes that about 495.00 a year… I wonder how many of us that are not on the streets can give a portion of that through United Way, or some other means of support. I’ll be reading you. I also plan on spending some time in the offices of our elected officials making sure they don’t forget.
Charles Fish
SFC, USA (RET)
2ACR Desert Shield/Desert Storm
Oldtimer // November 23, 2007 at 5:23 pm |
Thank you Charles for serving our country! You are one of the heroes I’m writing about. You just don’t happen to be one of the homeless ones, thank God.
We live in a small town in Georgia, but every homeless person I’ve met lately has turned out to be a veteran. Heroes that fought for our country living in the woods, not asking for anything, but found anyway by a few people that care, members of our church or members of orgainizations I belong to.
There are not many on the net writing about our homeless veterans and I hope that more will join in and create a tide of shame among those that fund the programs within our government.
The problem with funding is that our homeless veterans have no voice. The homeless in general have a lot of activists and service providers that can generate funding and promote drives for money and services for the homeless but little for our heroes that are too proud to ask for help or to live in shelters.
The subset that represents our veterans who make up more than 43% of the male homeless (when you exclude women and children) is shockingly under-reported and under-represented when it comes to the fundraisers and activists.
When funding occurs it is with a big show for the sponsoring congressperson for that district, a fine new building or renovation that uses a lot of money for a few lucky veterans. So the elected official gets his or her press (Look how much money I’ve appropriated) but 16 new beds in a community with a thousand or more homeless veterans is not making the kind of dent we need.
Much of my later writing has been enlightenment on the effects of PTSD because that has been the major cause of homelessness among veterans, and on job opportunities that they do not seem to know about.
The problem with job opportunities is that such a large percentage of our homeless heroes will not be able to hold a job with untreated PTSD and untreated acquired addictions without services and counseling designed for them.
Thank you for droping by. And thank you again for your service and for caring. Please do spend some time with our elected officials.
Let them know they need to spend billions, not millions and that removeing every last homeless veteran from the streets is their patriotic duty and it will, at the same time, fix the larger part of our overall homeless problem! Surely they can be made to understand that somehow.
Oldtimer
wanderingvet // November 27, 2007 at 5:24 am |
Hey Buddy I think we need a numbers check here. Have you seen that number where HUD says there are 1.5 mil homeless children? But of course some of that is stretched a little I do believe because of some school figures. I believe though based on that number your 750,000 is too low as well as the 200,000 for homeless veterans. As far as also counting homeless veterans, the nation forgets it deactivated a few divisions at the end of the cold war, that added a few troops to the homeless I believe, and also that the VA is using a numbers from HUD supposedly that cannot be correalated from anywhere else including HUD or HHS. You are right the number does not move after 2004-2005 strangely enough, it is quite bizaare of the recent memos they have put out recently as well stating all is well and we are on top of it though other in house reports say otherwise. After the mental health suicide story and they are the largest mental health provider, and the Viet Nam Vet Death Ratios, the Walter Reed Infestation, how they have dealt with the Homeless Vet issue since the 70’s, Agent Orange, Gulf War Syndrome, PTSD, (None of the Above Exists or Existed) now, one should be cautious and more concerned about treatment levels. I am getting more scared the more I read and write about the VA. Just my new thoughts on skewered numbers data..
W.
Oldtimer // November 27, 2007 at 11:35 am |
Yeah, my friend, but I’m trying to stick with the VA and HUD published numbers where I can’t come up with better ones. There probably aren’t any.
They do a good job of indicting themselves with the numbers they have. They say on the one hand that the numbers have come down but on the other hand, the GAO says that they changed the method of counting and depend on HUD for the answer, but only use HUD for a part of the numbers.
HUD does not properly count veterans. The VA does not properly count veterans. Nobody does. Those who counted in our area for the point-in-time count did not ask many of the men if they were veterans and certainly did not ask the women. Some of the counters were just happy to get a count.
The problem is they *blend* the numbers from HUD where HUD publishes a number (no matter how bad it is) with what their stand downs calculate and local VA offices observe for other numbers despite what they acknowledge is bad science. A stand-down or a hospital visit 3 months earlier does not give point-in-time results. The result is mix match of best guess.
The final published numbers do not change due to political pressure to not show backward progress or to actually show some progress even if not real.
The children’s figures include a lot of runaway counts that last only a night or two. Hundreds of thousands run away to a friend’s house for a few nights and go into the estimate of the total homeless children, much like the two figures for homeless veterans. 1) Those on the streets on a given night, and 2) those that are homeless some time during the year. Notice that both numbers for the VA and those for HUD are about double for total homeless during the year vs homeless on a given night. Not a coincidence, not accurate and purely a guess.
Tens of thousands of families get evicted, live in a motel a few weeks, or with family and their children get counted in the total of homeless that are homeless some part of the year, the 1.5 million figure. The 750K figure is supposedly the number that are homeless people (of any age) out on any one night. The schools are trying to follow the McKinney-Vento act, but even with the closeness some work with the kids, can’t pry out all the information they need. Some count all needy in with the homeless and some count all homeless in with the needy and don’t show any homeless. We just don’t get accurate numbers.
I’m sure the numbers counted by God changes every day.
None of the numbers we get are accurate and published figures often do not state the basis for the count. The best guess is what we have to work with and it is useful for some purposes.
What is clear to me is there is going to be an explosion of the homeless numbers due to the combined effect of massive foreclosures and the effect of returning veterans suffering from TBI and PTSD.
Oldtimer
August // December 27, 2007 at 12:57 am |
The homeless veterans need housing. If they want anything else they will let you know! House the veterans NOW! No more stipulation housing. The only stipulation housing is if you are a vet you are going to be housed, not warehoused!
Gino // February 2, 2008 at 10:59 am |
I have never seen a sign on a homeless agency that says “We have housing available” Never.
August // March 17, 2008 at 9:50 pm |
Obama is now saying he’ll at least make sure the homeless veterans get “some type of transitional housing”; all that mean is more of the same overcrowded human warehouses, forced 12 step religion, more never-ending group therapy, bunk beds, open bay group showers, and when the veterans get so sick of that because the are not allowed to get real career training/education or PRIVACY…blow their heads off or back to the streets. Homeless veterans do not need jail conditions. they want to move on! Any agency that says “We give a hand up not a hand out” means they keep all the money given for the veterans and the veterans get squat!
Brent, a army vet // March 18, 2008 at 1:07 pm |
I am homeless and whoever is saying the conditions for homeless veterans are like prison is correct. US Vets in Inglewood, CA say I have to go to AA. I also have to go through the VA SATP and have verification I’ve been sober for 90 days. All I need is a living wage job. I do not have a drinking problem and I’m only 21 and you can’t drink in Iraq.
August // March 26, 2008 at 1:40 pm |
Brent, Going through a homeless agency will automatically get you labeled addicted, mentally ill, lacking any skills at all, uneducated, and they are the ones to cure you. You will NOT get a living wage job. You will attend all their forced 12 step religion, you will attend all shelter meetings, you will not have any real friend; only their approved friends, you will turn over all money from your min-wage job to them, you will not have a girlfriend, you will slave away doing any housework they tell you to do. You will tell them everywhere you go at all times. That bullets not looking too bad is it? And the sadness is all you need is a job and housing; nothing else! Sad but true scenario. The veterans a killing themselves all the time because the system WILL NOT LISTEN to the veterans. It’s all the same one-size-fits-all crap. Just disagreeing with that system gets you labeled mentally ill!
Oldtimer // March 26, 2008 at 10:58 pm |
August, Brent,
Our homeless veteran friend Al is not being required to do a 12 step program as they correctly determined that he does not have those problems and they made no attempt to force it on him. He was placed in a transitional housing program for veterans and he has indicated he will start immediately applying for jobs. He is thrilled. They did not label him just because he was a homeless veteran.
Another homeless friend (Steve, not a veteran) was scheduled to go into a supportive housing program next week but the same homeless agency decided that he also did not need that program so they referred him over to HUD and now he has moved into a Section 8 housing program where his only requirement is that he pay up to 30 percent of his wages toward the rent. He is also thrilled. He moved in today.
I think you may have had a bad experience but it is apparently not universal. It may be widespread, but not all require it.
There may be some confusion as to the terms transitional and supportive housing. Supportive housing provides more treatment options, staff, and requirements than transitional housing.
Oldtimer
Uzie // April 13, 2008 at 3:55 am |
What can you tell me about PTSD in war veterans. I’m getting ready to make a presentation in a few weeks so any input would be appreciated! You can email me :)
Oldtimer // April 13, 2008 at 8:56 am |
Uzie,
Try these links:
News Flash! Army Reports on Delayed PTSD
This link will give you 34 articles which mentions PTSD as a category.
This link is a search for PTSD in my blog
http://oldtimer.wordpress.com/?s=PTSD
It will duplicate the previous one but also
pick up a few that I did not list in the category file.
Oldtimer
August // June 7, 2008 at 1:48 pm |
I checked out Al’s transitional housing program. If he went to a baseball game and had a beer with friends he would be kicked out to the street immediately. It’s a prison-type program. Where is the respect and dignity in that?
George // August 18, 2008 at 5:15 pm |
August, you are exactly right. These prison-hate-programs are deliberately designed to inflict the maximum amount of disrespect on this current generation of veterans precisely because the AMERICAN PEOPLE of today wish it to be so!
Dodie Bishoff // November 17, 2008 at 9:49 pm |
I am so thankful for a website such as your own………I am at the same time very angry at the so called Christians in our present day society.. (I am one of them).I am so tired of hearing this prosperity message while there are homeless eeking out a meager existence under bridges…They are tortured souls, yet humiliated by their own society even further.Perhaps some of our leading evangelists could do away with $650.00 shoes, and lear jets and put their money where their mouths are…Jesus said “feed the hungry,clothe the naked.” The answer to homelessness is the church.” It is our responsibility to do these things. Can you only imagine if we stopped building these enormous churches which cost millions upon millions to build and operate (cystal Cathedral is a good example), and started to put that money into the poor and homeless of this world, what huge differences we could make…God help us all who run around with the “What would Jesus do?” bumper stickers and let a world go hungry and naked.Explain this prosperity message to me a little more one of you big shot pastors wit a jet and 7 or 800,000 dollar homes……The men who made that a reality for you are homeless….Those veterans who fought for your freedom…..The church alone has the ability to stop homelessness and hunger………We should all pray and seek forgiveness…
Maurita Massey // November 21, 2008 at 2:28 pm |
My father is veteran of the Korean War, and we live in Roanoke, VA. The Salem, VA is the regional office for the State of VA. There are more homeless vets in this small city than in a lot of bigger cities surrounding us. I am looking into private funding to renovate 1 of many old houses here and try to house some of them. They deserve proper care, or better care than what they receive in the system. Proper food (a cook), proper health care (a full-time nurse), and a clean enviroment, service to assist their living habits daily. Just want to give back what my Dad did for this country. He is 77, retired and enjoying his life; all vets should do the same.
August // March 3, 2009 at 11:36 am |
Obama said his policy, once he took the office of president, would be ZERO homeless veterans; well homeless veterans are EXPLODING on the streets. Where are the REAL housing, the REAL job training, and where are the REAL jobs? Homeless veterans want to get on with their lives, not linger in programs after programs after more programs.