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Kaylyn Groth
Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
3 November 2016
Homes for the Brave
Imagine leaving your home and all you have ever known and
experienced for the last 18 or more years of your life to go train to fight for
your country. At these training centers, you are treated like you are the
biggest inconvenience and failure your commanders have ever laid eyes on,
but it is all in the name of preparing you for battle. You graduate from
training with honors and deploy to your first station. The conditions and the
length of time vary for every military personnel, but every person is
challenged to push themselves farther than they have had to before. When
their enlistment concludes, they have the decision to extend their service or
hang up their uniform and come back home. Either way, they are thanked
for their service and told what an honorable thing they have done, and
without them, our nation would not be free. But what comes next?
I would love to be able to say that these men and women are then able
to return home to their families and their homes to go back to their normal
life before their enlistment, but the sad reality is that this is not true for
many. The United States has an unacceptable population of homeless
veteranspeople that have put their lives in danger for the sake of their
country and its peoples freedom, but cannot be promised a home when they
return. According to Social Solutions 2016s Shocking Homelessness
Statistics article from June of 2016, there are 47,725 homeless veterans in

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America, and 1.4 million veterans are at risk of homelessness. This
significant problem has finally been put under a spotlight over the last
decade, but how much is really being done and how far do we still have to
go?
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has long realized that
homelessness among veterans was a problem and has had VA Programs for
Homeless Veterans in place. It has been in more recent years that these
programs have been expanded upon and more effectively exploited. This
new push came from President Obamas late 2009 announcement of the new
Opening Doors initiative that proposed a lofty goal of ending homelessness
among veterans by 2015. Instead of shying away from such a large goal,
with 75,600 homeless veterans in 2009, many organizations rose to the
challenge and began working together to combat this issue (Tsai).
Governmental aide in housing veterans primarily comes from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentVA Supportive Housing, of
HUD-VASH. This organization helps veterans and their families who are
homeless to find and sustain permanent housing through rental assistance
vouchers and funding from the government. They also have agencies that
provide beds and a temporary home with room for over 14,500 veterans
for up to 24 months (VA Programs for Homeless Veterans). Although the goal
is to assist all veterans in getting off the streets and into housing, there is
prioritization involved in this process. Priority is given to those with a
disability, those who have been homeless for a long period of time, females,

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those 60 or older, and veterans who have served in Operation Enduring
Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn (VA Programs).
In order to get into housing and receive the other services they need, they
are given a subsidy that is dependent on their income, but typically does not
cover all of the expenses they incur. This is to get veterans to work towards
the goal of being self-sufficient and get into healthy habits, like working a
stable job and practicing money management. I believe this is an important
method for these programs to stick to, because building a dependence on
the governments money and not actively working for your own separate
income is dangerous in many ways. It has been shown time and time again
that the governments money does run out, and also is not available to
everyone. If they were to lose their income from these governmental
programs for whatever reason, they would be right back to where they
started. If they are not working to benefit themselves, they will not feel they
have a purpose and something to work towards, which can very negatively
affect them mentally. Both are very dangerous positions to be in, and need
to be avoided at all costs.
Veterans in these governmental programs are held to expectations
such as no drugs, no alcohol, no trouble-making, and avoiding other
destructive behaviors that could lead back to their demise. Case managers
work with veterans to connect them to other resources they need that are
also provided through governmental agencies focusing on aiding veterans.
One such program is Homeless Veteran Community Employment Services, or

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HVCES (VA Programs). This organization partners with local communities to
open up employment opportunities specifically to veterans searching for
work. They first do a pre-screening of the veterans to see what skills they
have compared to the jobs available to see if it would be a good fit for them.
HVCES also helps prepare the veterans for returning to the normal,
competitive workforce and ensures that they are paid at least the federal or
state minimum wage, whichever is higher. Although it is important for these
men and women to learn how to advocate for themselves in places such as
the workforce, it is better for them to first be helped in doing so until they
are completely ready to do it on their own. Especially when it comes to
landing a job in the first place, they likely will have a more difficult time than
those who have a normal life with a normal situation and lack of possible
mental illnesses. They also cannot afford to be taken advantage of by being
paid less than they legally deserve. Watching someone else help them
handle these things first will teach them to be able to do it for themselves in
the future.
Health Care for Homeless Veterans, or HCHV, is another crucial
program designed to benefit homeless veterans. This program starts by
reaching out to veterans and informing them of the care available to them,
or by receiving veterans coming to them voluntarily seeking services. They
provide the health care each veteran needs, but they also help to transition
them back into a state where they are able to live in more stable housing
conditions and have better health (VA Programs). A variety of services are

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provided to them, such as dental or visual, rather than just their basic
healthcare needs. Any veteran who walks into their program seeking
services is accepted, including unexpected walk-ins. I think it is very
important for these men and women to know of such services available to
them so they can utilize them, first and foremost, but also so they are aware
of the fact that people really do care about them and appreciate the
tremendous service they have done for us all.
With many different programs for veterans to now choose from,
another important thing to know is which program is the right fit for them. A
study was done by Wesley J. Kasprow, Ph.D., M.P.H., Robert Rosenheck, M.D.,
Linda Frisman, Ph.D., and Diane DiLella, M.P.H. that compared the
characteristics, perceived environment, and outcomes of different types of
veterans residential treatment facilities: programs that specialized in
substance abuse disorders (SA) and those that address both substance
abuse and psychiatric disorders (DDX). Each program was first evaluated
through a survey done by program administrators, then the clients took a
survey on their perception of the treatment and environment they were
provided, then measures such as outcome at time of discharge were
compared. Results showed that the SA programs let clients feel a little more
in control of their stay, but clients were typically better off in DDX programs
where they experienced less expressed anger, showed more improvement in
social/vocational problems, and were more likely to be discharged via
consultation and placed into independent housing rather than another

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institution (Kasprow, et. al.). This is important information to consider for
veterans who are choosing what programs to try, or for loved ones or case
workers to look into when they are trying to place a veteran into a program
that will do well for them. It can be assumed that being in any program at all
would be beneficial to veterans in some way, but being in the right one can
be the difference between becoming better and becoming independent.
To look at this national problem at a local level, we can look farther into
how Charlotte has addressed this issue and the improvements that our city
has made. Jonathan McFadden wrote an article in The Charlotte Observer
entitled Mecklenburg County, Charlotte closer to ending veteran
homelessness in January of 2016 describing the Housing Our Heroes
initiative that Charlotte began just months before. In November of 2015,
Charlotte implemented a program called Housing Our Heroes that linked
together the local governments, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and
various charities with the goal of housing 204 veterans before the end of
2015. This goal was far surpassed, with 374 veterans helped off the streets
and into affordable housing. As of the posting of this article in January, there
were still an estimated 40 veterans that needed to be housed (McFadden).
The problem that the city is now running into is that they have filled all
spaces they were able to make available for these men and women, and are
stuck searching for more housing opportunities that are not readily available.
This is a slightly difficult problem to handle, as housing cant just be put up

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overnightespecially free or nearly free housing for that many people and
their families.
Mary Gaertner recently provided a Mayors Challenge to End Veteran
Homelessness Program Update that conveys the great accomplishments
Charlotte has seen so far and how they have been able to do so. A few
significant milestones were included, such as receiving a $5,000 grant from
Fifth Third Bank to go towards rental application fees and the opening of
Tyvola Crossing Phase Two built specifically for low-income military veterans
and their families (Gaertner).
When you look at where our nation was on the issue of veteran
homelessness 8 years ago compared to where we are now, it is inspiring to
see how far we have come with so many people and organizations coming
together. All of these members have the same dream of one day being able
to promise every military personnel a home when they return from serving
our nation, as they so rightfully deserve. With how far we have come already
and the ways we continue to combat this issue, I am confident that one day,
we will proudly be able to make that dream come true. Every veteran
every brave herowill soon have a place to call home.

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Works Cited
Gaertner, Mary. Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness Program
Update. Charlottenc.gov. Accessed 19 October 2016.
Kasprow, Wesley J., Rosenheck, Robert, Frisman, Linda, and DiLella, Diane.
Residential Treatment for Dually Diagnosed Homeless Veterans: A
Comparison of Program Types. The American Journal on Addictions
8:34-43. (1999). Accessed 6 November 2016.
McFadden, Jonathan. Mecklenburg County, Charlotte closer to ending
veteran homelessness. The Charlotte Observer, 19 January 2016.
Web. Accessed 22 September 2016.
VA Programs for Homeless Veterans. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 4 Aug. 2016. Web. 22 September
2016.
2016s Shocking Homelessness Statistics. Social Solutions. 21 June 2016.
Web. Accessed 7 November 2016.