Veterans Make Up 1 in 4 Homeless in US

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.

The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness.

The Alliance to End Homelessness, a public education nonprofit, based the findings of its report on numbers from Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau. 2005 data estimated that 194,254 homeless people out of 744,313 on any given night were veterans.

In comparison, the VA says that 20 years ago, the estimated number of veterans who were homeless on any given night was 250,000.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3835347

---

The shame of this nation!

[Double T]

1. bushco's and rethug's way of saying 'thank you' to our troops and veterans.

[eauclaireliberal]

2. Oh really?

I would have thought that it was at least TWO out of four.

[DesertFlower]

3. disgusting and deplorable.

and this is just the beginning. how many more will come home from afghanistan and iraq with physical and mental disabilities?

[aquart]

4. I hear that municipalities are buying foreclosed homes for a buck.

I heard it here, in fact.

Sounds like the right price to sell them to our troops. TO SUPPORT THEM.

[rodeodance]

5. Surge Seen in Number of Homeless Veterans (including Women vets--subject to sexual abuse)

Source: nytimes


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/us/08vets.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print

November 8, 2007

Surge Seen in Number of Homeless Veterans
By ERIK ECKHOLM

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 — More than 400 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have turned up homeless, and the Veterans Affairs Department and aid groups say they are bracing for a new surge in homeless veterans in the years ahead.

Experts who work with veterans say it often takes several years after leaving military service for veterans’ accumulating problems to push them into the streets. But some aid workers say the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans appear to be turning up sooner than the Vietnam veterans did.

“We’re beginning to see, across the country, the first trickle of this generation of warriors in homeless shelters,” said Phil Landis, chairman of Veterans Village of San Diego, a residence and counseling center. “But we anticipate that it’s going to be a tsunami.”

With more women serving in combat zones, the current wars are already resulting in a higher share of homeless women as well. They have an added risk factor: roughly 40 percent of the hundreds of homeless female veterans of recent wars have said they were sexually assaulted by American soldiers while in the military, officials said.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/us/08vets.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print

[babylonsister]

6. Just in time for winter. That's 'supporting the troops'. nt

[SpiralHawk]

7. "What's the problem? I am totally comfortable." - Commander AWOL

"You proles* can stop all that noisy whining about veterans who actually served honorably, because -- for your information -- everything is just fine at the Bush Family Mansion, and we are raking in Massive Oil and Munitions profits, like all of our republicon homelander chickenhawk cronies. So just shut up and sit down."

- Commander AWOL

One of the many Bush Family Evil Empire Mansions



* Proles - formerly known as Citizens of the United States of America

[EnricoFermi]

8. So this is the surge we were told about

It is working, apparently.

[gratuitous]

9. Well, they volunteered, didn't they?

And now we're supposed to get all bent out of shape because these people didn't read the fine print on their contract, and now they're literally out on the street? See, they should have gone into investment banking. Sheesh, people! This is what the United States does, because we love war more than we love our citizens.

[Doctor_J]

10. On the upside, sales of yellow magnets to hang on gas-gorging SUVs

remains strong. Who says the country doesn't support the troops?

[phantom power]

11. Predicted by absolutely everybody in the reality-based community.

And we can expect the homeless-vets to combine with the newly-homeless from the mortgage meltdown. And the homeless from a recessionary economy in general.

[saigon68]

13. I HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE

It just gets "Better" doesn't it ?

</sarcasm>

[gorbal]

12. awful

"With more women serving in combat zones, the current wars are already resulting in a higher share of homeless women as well. They have an added risk factor: roughly 40 percent of the hundreds of homeless female veterans of recent wars have said they were sexually assaulted by American soldiers while in the military, officials said."

Many homeless women in general have been sexually assaulted. Rape does something to a person's mind that people don't want to talk about. Blaming the victim is so much easier on the stomach I guess.

[Ilsa]

14. Let's get them bus tickets to Crawford. Maybe Cmdr AWOL will take them in. nt

[ohio2007]

15. you mean there are only 744,313 homeless in America ???? that story is BS

....2005 data estimated that 194,254 homeless people out of 744,313 on any given night were veterans.

thats like saying out of a population of 300 MILLION...far less then 1 % are homeless in america......


must be the veterans day story spin cuz I wonder how many homeless shelters there are in just one big city on the east or west coast that would be willing to say there are more then 1 million homeless in the US

[galledgoblin]

16. chronic homeless v. temporary?

I can buy a low number like that if it's only counting the chronically homeless.

[ohio2007]

19. they don't say either way so it's a storyline to fit the day

25% they are not saying are chronically homeless.

....just wait til the housing bubble pushes non vets out of their homes that were not purchased with VA loans.

of course,the spin won't fit that storyline

[Clanfear]

17. It is not all that surprising.

We need to be ofering Vets job retraining. They spend 4-8-or so years in the service and they have no applicable skills to the outside world.

[JerseygirlCT]

18. Which of course is exactly the opposite of what is sold to them

"get real-life training" and the like.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

20. Easier to fall prey to

Blackwater