Vets more likely to become homeless ..

[yidnar]

this is sad . Survey Shows Vets Are More Likely to be Homeless | Navy SEALs Blog by USNavySEALs.com

 

[yidnar]

 

[waltky]

Good on `em...

Helping homeless vets
May 24, 2013 - As residents reflect on the tireless work of the nation's military veterans on Memorial Day, a group of Howard County vets is concentrating on veterans without a home.

In its continued effort to support local veterans, Kokomo's VFW Post 1152, in coordination with the Family Service Association, began a one-year fundraising campaign this month to benefit Kokomo's homeless veterans housing project. The groups will continue coordinating multiple fundraising events in support of this project throughout the year leading up to Military Appreciation Week in November.

The project, called "Jackson Street Commons" at 322 E. Jackson St., will have 27 single-bed units, a community room, a large kitchen and office space for supporting services for homeless military veterans in Howard and surrounding counties. "We still have veterans living on the streets, sleeping under bridges and in tents," said Ken Fisher, commander of the VFW. In addition to providing critical housing needs, specific support services will also be made available to them.

Fisher said they are asking different organizations in four-county area to come up with their own event to raise donations for the project. "These guys are basically coming in with nothing but a sleeping bag," said Fisher of homeless veterans. "Our goal is to find organizations, businesses or individuals, people or businesses, to donate money for naming rights for each room."

Fisher explained it will cost $3,000 per room. The first $3,000 check came from Solidarity Federal Credit Union, which will have its name on one of the apartments. "I was a little shocked it didn't happen last year," Fisher said of raising the necessary funds. "This thing was promised a year ago. We should have these guys off the streets and get them the care they need. I don't want to see another winter go by without them having a place to go."

More Helping homeless vets - U.S. - Stripes

 

[asterism]

this is sad . Survey Shows Vets Are More Likely to be Homeless | Navy SEALs Blog by USNavySEALs.com

The DoD does a shitty job of screening for people who are prone to extreme disillusionment and discharging them.

 

[Gracie]

Vets should always have housing available to them. Period. They put their lives on the line and the least anyone can do is make sure they have a decent roof when and if they make it back home.

 

[asterism]

Vets should always have housing available to them. Period. They put their lives on the line and the least anyone can do is make sure they have a decent roof when and if they make it back home.

Most homeless vets do, but they shun the structure and the rules in favor of their addictions. They don't want 3 hots and a cot, they want to live by their own rules and most of the time that means they want the money instead of the food and shelter.

 

[Esmeralda]

this is sad . Survey Shows Vets Are More Likely to be Homeless | Navy SEALs Blog by USNavySEALs.com

There's a solution to this: stop making war all over the world. We need to rely more on NATO, without being the main contributary force, and UN peace keepers. Bush got us involved in Iraq for oil. Also in the Gulf War, for oil. He got us involved in Afghanistan to go after Obama, which he didn't actually make a real effort to do. Now we are still stuck there. It seems it is much easier to jump into a war than extricate yourself from one.

If we didn't have young men and women dealing with battle conditions everyday, we wouldn't have broken men and women with mental and physical damage coming home and not being able to get back into society.

 

[asterism]

this is sad . Survey Shows Vets Are More Likely to be Homeless | Navy SEALs Blog by USNavySEALs.com

There's a solution to this: stop making war all over the world. We need to rely more on NATO, without being the main contributary force, and UN peace keepers. Bush got us involved in Iraq for oil. Also in the Gulf War, for oil. He got us involved in Afghanistan to go after Obama, which he didn't actually make a real effort to do. Now we are still stuck there. It seems it is much easier to jump into a war than extricate yourself from one.

If we didn't have young men and women dealing with battle conditions everyday, we wouldn't have broken men and women with mental and physical damage coming home and not being able to get back into society.

Rely on the UN? Good luck with that. Clinton tried to rely on the UN in Somalia, how did that turn out? How has Iraq fared in the 22 years?


While there is a serious problem with homelessness and veterans, war is not the problem. Millions of people have been to war and have come back just as strong or stronger. The problem is that the DoD does a very bad job at identifying people who should not be part of the military. It's possible to screen for these tendencies, but "equal rights" and bureaucracy get in the way. That should change.

 

[waltky]

Currently 60,000 homeless veterans...

Pressure and progress as deadline for homeless veterans looms
May 29, 2013 WASHINGTON -- Officials will have to find housing for about 60 homeless veterans every day for the next 32 months to reach their self-proclaimed deadline to get every former servicemember off the street.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan noted that statistic as a sobering reminder and a challenge for attendees at the annual National Coalition for Homeless Veterans conference Wednesday, calling the progress impressive but incomplete. “Having close to 60,000 homeless veteran, as we currently do, is a national disgrace,” Donovan said. “We can’t let these forgotten heroes slip through the cracks.” Five years ago, White House and Veterans Affairs officials announced the ambitious goal of ending veterans homelessness throughout the country by the end of 2015. Since then, the number of former military living on the streets has dropped by almost one-fifth.

But with the deadline looming, VA leaders and veterans advocates say it will take an even more ambitious push to reach the goal. Donovan and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced at the conference plans to extend housing vouchers to about 9,000 more homeless veterans this year, raising the number of veterans receiving aid through the supportive assistance program to more than 57,000. In 2009, fewer than 1,500 veterans received those vouchers.

Shinseki also touted new health screening efforts started last fall, which have identified and directed aid to about 30,000 veterans without shelter or in danger of losing their homes. The department has also seen a recent boost in the use of its homelessness hot line -- (877) 424-3838 -- thanks in part to a new public awareness campaign. “We have made a difference … we know we can do this,” Shinseki told the conference crowd. “In a couple of years, we’ll be able to look back and say we took every homeless veteran off the street.”

Researchers expect to get a better picture of the veterans homelessness problem in coming months, when they finalize the annual point-in-time count for 2013. Shinseki and Donovan said preliminary numbers show another decline in the number of struggling veterans, but still plenty of work ahead. Donovan warned that the positive progress could be undermined by sharp budget cuts mandated under sequestration. Although VA programs are spared from those trims, Housing and Urban Development programs are not.

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