David Botti
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Nov 8, 2007 01:35 PM
Big news today in the world of veterans issues: A new report shows one
in four homeless people in the United States is a veteran – even though
vets make up 11% of the total population. According to the BBC, 44,000-64,000 vets are chronically homeless, while 500,000 are at high-risk of becoming homeless.
Here are some excerpts from news sources around the country offering an explanation:
From the New York Times:
Frederick Johnson, 37, an Army reservist, slept in
abandoned houses shortly after returning to Chester, Pa., from a year
in Iraq, where he experienced daily mortar attacks and saw mangled
bodies of soldiers and children. He started using crack cocaine and
drinking, burning through $6,000 in savings.
“I cut myself off from my family and went from being a pleasant
guy to wanting to rip your head off if you looked at me wrong,” Mr.
Johnson said.
On the street for a year, he finally checked in at a V.A.
clinic in Maryland and has struggled with PTSD, depression, and drug
and alcohol abuse. The V.A. has provided temporary housing as he starts
a new job.
An interesting observation also in this Times article concerns sexual abuse in the military, which I wrote about earlier this week. The article noted sexual abuse is a risk factor for homelessness.
From the Associated Press:
After being discharged from the military, Jason
Kelley, 23, of Tomahawk, Wis., who served in Iraq with the Wisconsin
National Guard, took a bus to Los Angeles looking for better job
prospects and a new life.
Kelley said he couldn't find a job because he didn't have an
apartment, and he couldn't get an apartment because he didn't have a
job. He stayed in a $300-a-week motel until his money ran out, then
moved into a shelter run by the group U.S. VETS in Inglewood, Calif.
He's since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.
"The only training I have is infantry training and there's not
really a need for that in the civilian world," Kelley said in a phone
interview. He has enrolled in college and hopes to move out of the
shelter soon.
From the Kansas City Star:
Dressed in the Army uniform he wore in the Persian
Gulf War, John Vitale draws stares at food kitchens as he waits for a
free meal.
He earned 18 medals, ribbons and awards in Iraq, and was
honorably discharged. He wants strangers to know he’s a veteran. He
says he doesn’t drink or use illegal drugs. He calls everyone “sir” or
“ma’am.”
But something about him isn’t right.
His eyes dart, scanning for an unknown assailant. His hands
shake. His moods swing wildly. He can’t hold a job. For the last two
years, Vitale, 40, has traveled in and out of homelessness.
Over at the Huffington Post Jon Soltz of VotVets.org
has an editorial on the whole issue. He’s tired of the alarm blaring
that goes along with the report’s release, and says the real problem
lies with the VA and government:
So, here's how it goes. A veteran
goes to the VA, if they can get in, because something is just not right
in their mind. Instead of PTSD, they're told they have "adjustment
disorder" or a preexisting mental condition, neither of which allows
them to collect disability. They don't get the right treatment,
allowing their mental condition to worsen. They simply cannot hold down
a job, they don't get disability, and, not surprisingly, they cannot
afford a place to live and become homeless.
There is no blood test that can tell if you have PTSD. It's not a
simple injury to find -- an injury to your psyche. And, until this
administration gets serious about greater funding and a real strategy
to deal with this coming tsunami, it doesn't matter how many wonderful
charitable groups are out there, trying to find and house homeless
veterans, because we'll just be dealing with the result -- homelessness
-- rather than the root cause - PTSD.
Sexual abuse, PTSD, funding, support, facilities, VA competency
– it seems all aspects of veterans issues can converge and lead to a
vet becoming homeless.
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