The Homeless Veterans Wandering On The Streets Of America

Veterans, like anyone else, seek services such as secure housing, nutritional meals, basic physical health care, substance abuse care and aftercare, mental health counseling, personal development and empowerment. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a huge government organization that supports the veteran population by providing services in healthcare. Each year, VA’s specialized homelessness programs provide health care to almost 150,000 homeless veterans in the USA and other services to

In spite of having many advantages, veterans over-represent in the homeless population. The question “Why?” begs an answer. Forty years have passed since the Vietnam Conflict ended and homeless veterans became a representative image in American society. Surprisingly, it appears there are no studies on the factors contributing

Across the nation about 18% of veterans are homeless, which accounts for 7% of the entire population (Carlson, Gavert, Macia, Ruzek, & Burling, 2013). Combat exposure alongside past trauma can contribute to the large number of homeless and suffering veterans, PTSD is especially common within this population.

According to the 2012 Annual Homeless Assessment Report released by the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an estimated 62,619 veterans were homeless on any given night in 2012. The good news is that the estimate represents a 7.2 percent decline from the 2011 estimate and a 17.2 percent decline compared to the 2009 estimate ("Veterans," 2013). Although progress is being made, there is much to be done. There are veterans with the same needs as the general homeless population, but also veterans with severe physical and mental health disabilities, related to their service, that necessitate permanent housing with supportive services.

In Texas today there about 16,000 homeless veterans. Veterans who previously put their lives on the line for this country, veterans who, at the very least, deserve a bed to sleep on at night. This is not only an issue that needs to be addressed in Texas, but also an issue that should be a top priority. Because Texas has the third largest population of homeless veterans, we should be doing more to help those who served in combat and are now living on the streets.

Thirteen percent of all of the homeless in the United States are reported to be veterans (Hoffler, Dekle & Sheets, 2014). Because of this issue veteran suicide rates are much higher than the general population as are the rates for veterans substance abuse (McCarl 2103). Behavioral health needs and housing are currently the two of the largest needs that are facing veterans at this time. The VA has housing programs and a large funding source though each VA may have differing program structures the VA itself is lacing in outreach programs and psychoeducational programs for homeless veterans. Also Homeless veterans themselves underutilize the services available to them. (Gabrielian, Yuan, Rubestein, Anderson, Gelberg 2013) This homeless veterans

In 2012, VA introduced the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program, with the similar goals of both preventing veteran homelessness and rapidly re-housing veterans and their families. The program provides a variety of time-limited services and financial assistance. In its first two years, the SSVF program aided almost 100,000 individuals in over 61,000 households, spending $2,480 per household; after being housed, only 9.4 percent of veteran families returned to homelessness one year after exiting the program, and only 15.5 percent returned to homelessness two years after exit.

“It’s like the path of least resistance... After a while, your self esteem gets really low and you don’t feel competitive any longer… Like you are already defeated.” (Applewhite ¶ 17). A quote from a homeless veteran shows how even though he has tried to relieve himself of the homelessness, it does not always end with the outcome that he wants, which leaves him feeling defeated, as well as thousands of others. About ⅓ of the homeless population are veterans, and they are usually the ones that need the most help (VA Expands Partnerships ¶5). The struggle that homeless veterans face everyday in the United States is a growing problem that needs to be fixed because it will continue to get worse. The healthy and productive success of

Since I have chosen a local approach for helping to solve veteran homelessness, I found a non-profit organization in my area to donate to called Priority Veteran. This organization recommends giving “donations of unused household goods such as cleaning supplies, bedding and kitchen items” (Skowronek 1). Giving these basic necessity items to the homeless will allow them to save money, which they can in turn spend on things that could help themselves back into society like housing, medical needs, or finding jobs. Donations like these to Priority Veteran have been proven to be effective by “people volunteering and helping at Protority Veteran in 2014 caused ‘the number of homeless veterans [in Birmingham] at 174, down 10 percent from last January and down more than 60 percent from January of 2005’” (Gordon 6). Since I have found that this solution is proven to work, my donations every year will definitely help to decrease the amount of veteran homelessness in

In political news this week, some news journals are making an effort to show what some veterans have to go through. 84 year old war veteran twins say “it’s hell” after their home foreclosed. Clifford and Gary Koekoek survived living under Nazi occupations and fighting in the Vietnam jungles. But, today they say they are living in “hell” and sleeping in their car since their home was foreclosed in California around October. Clifford and Gary were born in the Netherlands, and grew up under the Nazi rule before retreating to the US. Both brothers worked in Hollywood and then served their country at war. The twins never married or had kids because of what they saw in the Holocaust. "All my life, I've seen people killed, tortured, loved ones taken

Although flawless counts are impossible to come by – the transient nature of homeless populations presents a major difficulty – VA estimates that 107,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Over the course of a year, approximately twice that many

Homeless veterans have always been a problem. War creates veterans and not all of them have something to go back to. That being said, in modern-day America, a whopping 49,933 veterans are found to be homeless each night. That includes veterans that have fought in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, World War II, and the Korean War. And out of all of those veterans, roughly 9% of them are 18-30 years of age, and

The majority of homeless veterans have service connected disabilities that are a direct result of military service; this contributes to a high risk of homelessness among veterans. Unique military skills that are non-essential in the civilian sector, combat related health issues, fractured family relationships and the lack of affordable housing are other factors. Many of them lack a social support network and/or someone to assist them with getting assistance from the government. They may be unaware of the different services they require and are

My problem revolves around homeless veterans and how they are at a higher risk for suicide than those who are not homeless. Several factors relate to the notable risk for veteran suicide including health factors, substance and alcohol abuse, stressful life events, social isolation and psychiatric disorders. Veterans who are homeless show higher rates for these significant factors including psychiatric disorders, alcohol and drug abuse and chronic medical conditions. There is a correlation between veteran homelessness and suicide and several disciplinary perspectives relate to it. The most notable disciplines that effect veteran homelessness include sociology and economics. There are several economic factors that influence why veterans become

As we present research on interventions utilized to assist United States Veterans who are experiencing homelessness, it is best to begin by re-emphasizing determinants such as combat, trauma inflicted by wartime events, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), isolation, unemployment, and substance abuse are potential factors of homelessness (Donovan & Shinseki, 2013). Disorders and Traumatic experiences may follow veterans after departing military services that produce distinctive challenges. Veterans is an at risk population that is apt to undergo psychiatric illnesses and are need of access to tailored resources and information that will offer a supportive environment that is absent alcohol, clean housing that is safe and secure, along with