Homeless Iraq War veterans

According to advocates for the homeless, about 100 Iraq War vets are currently homeless, but they expect that number to increase dramatically, if

American soldiers have to stay in Iraq for several years, as Bush administration officials have suggested. "Americans think the VA (the US Veterans

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Administration) is wonderful, but that's a lot of rubbish," said Linda Boone, Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless Veterans (NCHV) in Washington, DC. "The VA doesn't have enough resources to take care of our veterans, and Congress doesn't want to pay for them." The NCHV has 350 member organizations in 46 states, providing shelter, food, and other services to homeless vets.

Maria Fostarinis, Executive Director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in Washington, DC, agreed that the VA doesn't have the resources to do its job well, and added, "Budgets are not acts of God. They are political choices. The VA needs to be out there making the case for veterans."

As the Iraq War vets become homeless, they join the 299, 321 veterans the VA estimates are homeless in America on any given night. Nearly 47 percent of them are Vietnam War vets, while the rest have served in World War II, the Korean War, Granada, Panama, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. No organization, including the VA, keeps statistics on homeless vets, but the agency does have profile of the homeless vet population. The vast majority are male (about 98 percent), single, and poor or disadvantaged. Nearly 50 percent suffer from mental illness and/or substance abuse problems; more than 67 percent served their country for three years; and about 33 percent were stationed in a war zone.

"Veterans, who make up about 9 percent of the US population, comprise a sizeable percentage of America's homeless population … about 23 percent," Boone revealed. Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing for the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, DC, stressed that homeless vets are not "losers," as some people might think. "About 59 percent of them had honourable discharges," Stoops said. "It's outrageous that anyone who has put their life on the line for their country should have to live on the street."

In one of its reports, the VA boasted that since it began responding to the special needs of the homeless vets, its "homeless treatment and assistance network has developed into the largest provider of homeless services (in America), serving more than 100,000 vets annually." But, in reality, that means only 20 percent of the vets in need are being served and that 400,000 vets have no supportive services to help them find housing, medical care, nutritional food, job training, placement assistance and substance abuse and mental health counseling, if they need it.

In the future, many Iraq homeless war vets will need mental health counseling, Boone predicted. "Studies show that mental health issues for homeless vets begin later in their lives, as much as 12 years later," she explained. "They will seem to be doing well mentally, despite being on the street, and then some event will trigger a problem. The public should be really concerned about that because the VA doesn't have the facilities or resources to treat the current number of homeless vets with mental health issues, let alone any new ones. The VA has cut back its in-patient residential care programs."

Statistics from the VA show that as of July 2004, nearly 28,000 Iraq War vets sought healthcare from the federal agency, and that one in every five was diagnosed with a mental disorder. A study that appeared in the July 2004 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that 17 percent of service members returning from Iraq met screening criteria for major depression and general anxiety disorder.

A recent NCHV survey shows that combat veterans who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq are beginning to request help from homeless volunteer service providers. The survey was in response to the growing number of inquiries from the journalists and government officials involved in veteran and budgetary affairs, Boone said.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon appears to be in state of denial. While admitting to some problems in treating soldiers returning from Iraq, Pentagon officials have told the press that the situation has been fixed. Homeless vet advocates remain unimpressed. "The military has done a terrible job easing vets back into American life once their tour of duty ends," Stoops said.

In a recent ABS television nightly news report, Dr. Alfonse Batres, the head of VA's transition assistance program, said it was up to retiring vet to seek help. "You may offer all the programs in the world, but if they don't come in to receive those services then it's very difficult to provide them access," Batres said.

Homeless advocates said the VA is wrong to put the onus on vets and expect them to know what services are available. "Isn't it the job of the VA, as a federal agency, to make the people it serves aware of how they can help? Boone questioned. Stoops said, "That type of attitude shows that the system is broken and why we will see more (returning) vets from the Iraq War end up on the streets of America."

As the 10th Congress gears up, the NCHV has adopted a comprehensive legislative agenda that focuses on homeless prevention strategies and on adequate funding levels for community-based veteran service providers. The NCHV and its allies are lobbying Congress to provide an increase for the Homeless Veterans Revitalization Program (HVRP) and the Veterans Workforce Investment Program (VWIP), the only federal programs specifically dedicated to providing employment training and placement services to American veterans. The NCHV warns that, without an increase in government funding, a number of programs receiving government grants will decrease and there will be no new grants for new programs.

Meanwhile, advocates for homeless vets would like to see Americans who have strongly supported US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan step forward and get involved with the issue. "You see all those cars with yellow ribbons saying, 'Support Our Troops,'" Boone said. "What you don't see are signs saying 'Support Our Veterans.' But when those men and women take off their uniforms, that's when they need support the most."

Daily Star columnist Ron Chepesiuk is a Visiting Professor at Chittagong University and a Research Associate with the National Defense College in Dhaka.