The Veteran’s Administration identified six programs that would be critical to the rehabilitation of injured or disturbed veterans.  Identification of beneficial services is the easiest part of the process.  Homeless people do not normally search around for these services.  Veterans need to be found and connected with a coordinator of services.

A fair number of homeless veterans are well educated, yet they are poor wanderers.  This indicates that it was too difficult to pick up where they left off in pre-combat life. Coming home is easy. Being home is the hard part.  It is much easier to drown in alcohol, drift with drugs and let life – and themselves – pass by.

To try to alleviate some of this problem, the VA activated an Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans.  The committee is charged with the responsibility to ensure that every veteran – no matter what age, gender, disability or race – shall be provided the services needed to help in the process of rehabilitation and reintegration into civilian life as a fully functioning member of society.

Homeless Veteran Coordinator

The Advisory Committee recommended establishing a position called the Homeless Veteran Coordinator.  Most VA Medical Centers have a Coordinator available to connect veterans with the most appropriate professionals that can render the needed services.  Most important, the veterans who needed those services had to be found.

When and where is the best place to find the homeless veteran?  Since the homeless population tends to congregate together and watch out for each other, it is unlikely that members of this group would be conveniently located at a VA Medical Center.  The Coordinator had a responsibility to wander out of the office and mingle with the members of this population. 

Fortunately, homeless shelters have been available in most cities for several decades.  They formerly catered to the street people looking for a place to sleep overnight or to seek shelter from the weather.  Among the benefits at the shelter were hot showers, good evening meals, warm blankets and soft pillows.

When census-takers and shelter managers noticed an increase in existing homeless populations, questions surfaced concerning the identities and city/town of origin.  They discovered that the homeless population was growing with veterans – homeless veterans who had no place to live or call home.

Services Available to Homeless Veterans

One of the previously identified priorities was housing homeless veterans. This need was real and immediate. The Homeless Veteran Coordinator position was created for this very reason.  The Coordinator would also be the scout for properties suitable for group living.  These properties were identified, bought or rented and furnished as shelters for homeless veterans.

The most important part of this position, however, would be public relations.  The soon-to-be veterans had to be advised that these places existed and the best time to inform them had to be during the pre-homecoming debriefings.  The good news is that this approach appears to be viable.  It is working as evidenced by the fact that the network of veteran shelters has grown since 1987.  Space within the existing shelters is at an all-time premium.

Locating Veteran Shelters

Volunteers are always welcome at the shelters for homeless veterans.  Don’t let this be a fleeting thought to be taken lightly.  Your time and effort is a meaningful way to say “thank you” to a combat veteran.  There may be a homeless veteran shelter in your community.  The residents would be grateful for your tax-deductible support, fundraising assistance or telemarketing expertise.

The Veterans Administration keeps a list of the 232 homeless veteran shelters located across the 50 United States.  Follow this link to valuable information and locations of these shelters: http://www1.va.gov/homeless.  The entire site is dedicated to the health, safety and support of homeless veterans.

Supporting Veteran Shelters

Most of the shelters provide space for counseling services, group sessions, job training and connect the veteran with needed medical and dental attention.  The shelters are dependent on fundraising efforts, especially public outreach by way of awareness mailings, donation request mailings, telemarketing and open houses.

Except for some limited staff, the shelters are essentially self-sufficient and not directly government funded.  The Veterans Administration does provide Grant and Per Diem assistance as funds allow.  When the opportunity arises – and it will – giving a contribution to a veteran’s shelter is the biggest “thank you” that you could ever give our guardians of freedom.

When entering a war theatre, unusual circumstances become quite commonplace.  Traumatic events are certain to follow a soldier back into civilian life.  Physical injuries need to be treated.  Traumatic brain injuries are far more common due to advances in modern warfare.

Soldiers come home to families that do not understand the changes in personality, mental ability or the inability to re-integrate into civilian life.  As a result, these former soldiers turn to abuses, experience failed relationships and become too stressed for normal interaction.  The result is that they begin wandering in an effort to burn energy and get to sleep.

97% of homeless veterans are male and the majority of them come from challenging backgrounds, are single, poor, older and educated.  Half of the homeless veterans are African-American or Hispanic.  More than 70% have alcohol or drug abuse issues.  Almost all of these veterans are lost to the system with the resources to help them.

Veteran’s Administration Specialized Programs

 In 1987, the Veteran’s Administration was authorized to develop major homeless-specific programs.  Since then, these programs have grown and developed.  They attempt to address the issues of homelessness among veterans, identify and integrate related services and offer this series of interwoven services to veterans and their dependents.

Among the services available to the homeless veteran, the following programs were identified:

·                 Aggressive outreach program aimed at shelters and known populations of street people

·                 Assessment and a referral for approved medical, physical and psychiatric issues

·                 Long term shelter, transitional assistance, case worker assignment and/or rehabilitation

·                 Identification of marketable education, skills and abilities as well as employment assistance and connections with other income resources

·                 Permanent housing with support services

·                 In 1992, the Homeless Veterans Dental Program was added to the foregoing list of services

Lessons from Vietnam

We lost many combat soldiers during the war in Vietnam.  The final number is still undetermined.  Those that returned came home with an array of issues and there were no established services to deal with those issues.  The current estimate of Vietnam veterans who are homeless is greater than the number that died.

Desert Storm veterans are beginning to appear among the homeless population.  At present, the number is very small.  If history repeats itself, the number will grow over time.

The majority of homeless veterans, who saw combat in Vietnam; also suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  Exposure to combat conditions, however, is not the only determinant that identifies veterans who are likely to become homeless.  There are stronger determinants that involve support from family and friends, family history and personal character traits or flaws.

Homeless Veteran Coordinator

The Department of Veterans Affairs has established Homeless Veteran Coordinator Offices in each state.  This office dispenses information to homeless veterans about the services available in their state through the Veterans Health Administration.  Each facility provides the services most in demand.

The homeless veteran is not left on his own or without supportive services.  Bringing the service and the veteran together is just the beginning of a relationship with support network personnel.  Homeless veterans have some unknown entitlements to tap for assistance.

Do you know a homeless veteran that you can point in the right direction?  Consider it your duty to both God and your Country to help that veteran find these services.

However, this is not so, because studies find a high percentage of Iraq veterans are returning home with mental problems and they are showing up at homeless shelters around the country.  

Recently, the government concluded that there are about 200,000 homeless vets in the United States. About 10 percent are either from the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq or Afghanistan. 

Our soldiers need serious help.  We cannot let them reside in homeless shelters.  These heroic men and women risked their lives to protect and ensure well-being and safety of America.  They are putting their personal lives (family, friends, social lives and relationships) on hold to help America.  Now America has to give back and ensure the soldiers that they have their own house to come home too.  The government has to step in and providing funding for this important cause.  If Americans can donate money to help other countries build homes then they can certainly donate money to help build living quarters for our soldiers.  The welfare of our soldiers should come first.

Nearly 1,300 U.S. soldiers were killed since the war began. Many thousands more have been wounded. Last week the New England Journal of Medicine reported that the US is facing a “severe shortage of surgeons in Iraq” to treat wounded soldiers. It is estimated that more soldiers have been injured in Iraq than during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, or the first five years of the Vietnam War.

Organizations around the country that help soldiers and veterans found that homeless shelters around the country are reporting they are already seeing some recently returned Iraq veterans showing up in need of shelter. The Homeless Veterans coalition estimates that nearly 500,000 veterans are homeless at some point in a given year.

The medical community believes that many of these soldiers are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The army reported in the New England journal of medicine that 17% of all of the soldiers who are just stepping off the military plane would screen positive for posttraumatic stress disorder. This problem pops up weeks or months after serving in combat.

The Department of Veterans Affairs concluded that 30,000 soldiers from Iraq had shown up at Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities. In addition, out of these 30,000 one out of every five has been diagnosed with some sort of a mental problem.

So if a majority of our soldiers is suffering from mental disorders how are they going to survive in the civilian world?  Prices are rising dramatically.  Even people that make a decent salary are suffering.

How are soldiers going to be able to get a good job, work long hours, pay their bills, and afford housing to top it off if they are not functioning 100 percent.  A mental disorder is a serious issue. How are they going to afford houses and living expenses if they are battling everyday with a mental disorder that interferes with their lives and their ability to live a happy healthy and productive lifestyle?

The government is telling us that these soldiers are homeless, but what are they doing about it?  That is great they can tell us the figures, the real question is what are they doing to put a stop to all this.

The government says the reason why they are homeless is because many suffer from residual stress from daily crucifying attacks and roadside bombs makes it tough to adjust to civilian life; some can’t navigate government assistance programs; others simply can’t afford a house or apartment.

Again, I ask what are the government and the people of America going to do.  The government has to have a well-developed program ready so when they evaluate them, they diagnose with a mental disorder they have to have assistance, and facilities ready for them.  This includes housing provided by the government for these men and women.

They are finding soldiers living in towns and cities big and small, from Washington State to California and Florida. Some of the hardest hit are in New York City, where housing costs is extremely expensive.  Studio apartments in New York usually cost more than $1,000 a month. 

Many soldiers come home and have trouble finding a job.  The economy is at its worst right now jobs are not easy to find.  Many cannot support their families for this reason and without enough money to rent an apartment, they turn to the housing programs for vets, but some soldiers are overbooked and for this reason, they become homeless.

One man from New York told a newspaper this, “I ended up in a Bronxshelter “with people who were just out of prison, and with roaches.” “I’m a young black man from the ghetto, but this was culture shock. This is not what I fought for, what I almost died for. This is not what I was supposed to come home to.”

About 350 nonprofit service organizations are working with the Department of Veterans Affairs to help veterans. It is not acceptable to let soldiers come home after risking their lives to help our country and have nowhere to go.

However, more has to be done to help this problem.

What is shocking is that almost half of America‘s 2.7 million disabled veterans receive $337 or less a month in benefits.  This is unacceptable.  How are our soldiers going to survive?  They cannot survive on this income.

Something needs to be done and it needs to be done now.  After reading this, please contact veteran organizations and find out how you can help.  Something has to change.  And we are the only ones that can do it.  The government will not do anything unless we put pressure on them and demand that something needs to be done.