Many veterans face homelessness
The Homelessness Research Institute released some disturbing news earlier this week: Military veterans represent more than 25 percent of the U.S. homeless population. This is especially shocking considering that veterans only make up 11 percent of the civilian adult population.
The institute’s new report, Vital Mission: Ending Homelessness Among Veterans, says that 195,827 homeless veterans slept on the street, in shelters or in transitional housing on any given night in 2006. The states with the highest rate of homeless veterans are Louisiana, California and Missouri.
The report does offer some solutions. The question is whether anyone will act on them.
The report states that to reduce chronic homelessness among veterans by half, states and federal agencies must increase permanent supportive housing – housing linked with supportive services – by 25,000 units. The number of housing vouchers targeted to veterans needs to be expanded to 20,000.
The report also recommends that the federal government create a risk-assessment process during the first 30 days of discharge and pilot a homelessness prevention program that includes eviction prevention and one-time assistance for veterans who fall behind on their rents.
Researchers estimate that acting on these recommendations would cost about $6.4 billion.
Now, are we willing to pay that? Seems the federal government could afford this quite easily if the Bush administration could end its habit of going to war with everyone it didn’t like.
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