Anjenette Whitted
English 1120 MV 11:00am
Professor Soto-Schwantz
5 October 2015
Help for Homeless Veterans 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, creek beds, 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. We 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 10% 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. If our country stepped up to the plate and provided for our homeless veterans, the homeless population would fall instantly by 43 percent. Our heroes doesn’t deserve to be treated this way.
We need to make sure our Veterans are taken care of properly. When Ryan 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.
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 do all the money go? Veterans are not allowed to get real job training in the shelters just “how to write your name” classes.
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.
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 alieve 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. I am increasingly concerned with the number of Vets I encounter on the streets of Cleveland, and I am saddened veterans 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. 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.
America has fought many wars and is currently fighting a war in an attempt to make the lives of everyday Americans free, one of relative peace and harmony. Many service members have sacrificed their lives and others continue to make the sacrifice in order to protect these freedoms that Americans hold dear. But what of those who didn’t pay the ultimate sacrifice, the ones who came home to a supposedly grateful nation, after experiencing things that many would not have the courage or the backbone to go through? They come home to a nation and are disregarded and brushed aside as if their service was of no consequence. So they fade; they fade away into the shadows of this nation forgotten and abandoned because America has no further use for them, has no need for heroes after the job is done. This is the America in which we live, a nation full of forgotten heroes living among us asking for our help. Are they asking us to put our lives on the line as they have done for us? No. All they are asking for is a little food or some of your pocket change so that they might be able to survive. They are asking for our help as we turn a blind eye towards them, hoping that if we don’t pay attention to them that they will go away. But they are not going away and with the current war, you can rest assured that there will be more. They are my heroes, they are your heroes and they are America’s heroes, they are the homeless Veteran.