Government public agencies addressing selected social problems

VA & Homeless Vets

There is not a shortage of public issues that tend to pull at the heartstrings of many people. Whether it be poverty, abuse or neglect of children or people being homeless or otherwise desperate, it would seem that there is no shortage of people in dire need of assistance. A prominent subset of the homeless population just mentioned are the homeless people that are veterans of the United States Armed Forces. As one might expect, the Veterans Affairs (VA) Administration has a program that is specifically meant to address the issue of many veterans being homeless. While it may not be popular to say, the solution to this social problem is not as easy as one might expect as there is only so much money, resources and options that exist.

Analysis

The challenges that faces the VA or anyone else will tend to have when it comes to helping home veterans is that the homeless person in question has to want the help and assistance and must be willing to adhere to the strings that are often attached. While some might ask why such strings and willingness are even needed, there are good reasons. While many homeless people are in their situation on a temporary and fleeting basis, there are others that are perpetually and normally homeless. Beyond that, a good amount of the people that are homeless are in their situation, at least in part, due to mental illness and/or drug abuse of some sort. After all, there is a reason why many people advise against giving cash donations to the homeless because there is the conventional wisdom, which is often supported by events and reality, that the money will not be spent on anything that will excise the person from homelessness. Finally, there is the issue that unless the homeless person in question is a danger to themselves or others, they cannot forcibly be housed in metnal health accommodations or a shelter. In other words, if they are not deemed a threat and they are not wanting to go to a shelter or government agency for help, they are under no compulsion or requirement to do so. If the person is mentally ill or drug-addicted despite not being suicidal or homicidal, the outcome and ongoing nature of the problem will obviously not be helped.

Even with the above dour realities, the VA does have a program in place to at least try to mitigate the issue. Their stated mission is to "end" homelessness for vets. They stand behind three main prongs and goals of the agency. They seek to conduct coordinate outreach to veterans on a proactive basis and while finding out who needs assistance, they attempt to connect homeless and at-risk veterans with differing solutions and assistance such as housing, healthcare and community employment services and they strive to collaborate with agencies of all levels (federal, state and local) as well as faith-based and community non-profits. The goal of the latter networking and collaboration is to provide and administer affordable housing solutions as well as expand employment opportunities for veterans that need and want the assistance. The website for this program urges people to "take action". They say that veterans at risk can contact the VA or go to a VA location. In addition to showing up at a VA location, vets and/or their families can contact the group via their phone number (which is staffed 24/7) or their website. Information about the homeless veteran program as well as other programs meant to support veterans are at the ready, according to the website. The key programs touted specifically for homeless veterans include healthcare (including drug rehab), mental health, housing assistance and employment/job training (VA, 2017).

When it comes to whether this program is effective, the news is rather mixed. As noted at the onset of this report, at least part of the issue is not entirely within the VA's control. Indeed, if a person is mentally ill and/or drug-addicted and that has created or aggravated the homelessness of the veteran in question, the odds that this will change without direct acquiescence and cooperation from the veteran in question is extremely unlikely. This is true of homeless veterans as well as anyone else that is homeless because of mental health and/or drug addiction issues. With that being said, the VA is far from being the most popular government agency out there (if there is such a thing) and this is largely because of the debacle of a healthcare management system that has been typified over the last ten to twenty years in particular. Former Director of the VA Shinseki was ousted some time ago but the problems are still arising as a regional director of the VA was just ousted for perpetuating the same sorts of problems that Shinseki was ostensibly guilty of not fixing and addressing.

Even with the challenges, there are some areas that have done rather well despite the long odds. One such area is the state of Virginia. As touted by Governor Terry McAuliffe, they have had great success in curtailing the amount of homelessness that is veterans are subject to. From 2015 to 2016, the state of Virgnia helped roughly 1,432 homeless people. This is more than double the known count of homeless vets in that same area, that being about 620. This led Mr. McAuliffe to say that the state had "ended" the presence of homeless veterans. This might be true on paper but it is not true in reality as truly getting a firm count of the homeless, let alone helping them all in a successful fashion, is not possible. Even so, it was a feel-good story for the state and was treated as such. Even the governor stated as such but also was wise to point out that it was not a "one-time" effort and that the tools and tricks used by the state and federal agencies involved should continue unabated as a way to thank and help the veterans that fall on hard times once their days of service are over, for whatever reason.

Results similar to the Virginia story have also been seen in Dayton, Ohio. Even if the "ending" of homeless there is subject to the same technicality as was seen in Virginia, the results are nonetheless positive. Indeed, Dayton and Virginia are among roughly 2-3 dozen areas in the country that have met the same positive milestone. The Dayton results from January 2015 showed that there were about 761 people in the Dayton area that were considered homeless. Of that group, sixty of the people were vets. Of that sixty, about 98% of those veterans were housed. If one looks at the wider area that is Montgomery County, the numbers are also positive. There were about 930 homeless veterans shown in the survey but 54 of that group had found housing in the last month alone, as of late 2015 (Barber, 2016).

Even with the encouraging microcosms here and there, the national numbers are a little more sobering and down to earth. Indeed, there were nearly 50,000 homeless veterans in the United States as of January 2014. Of the wider pool of homeless, that is a little less than a tenth of the whole group, coming in at about 8.3%. A few traits of the homeless veterans that should be known is that the vast majority are male (91%), even more of them are single (98%), most live in a larger city (76%) and more than half of them (54%) have some sort of mental or physical disability. Veterans that are African-American are a disproportionate share of the homeless population. Indeed, they make up 11% of the total veteran population but are more than a third (39%) of the homeless veterans group (NAEH, 2015).

Conclusion

There is very much a vicious cycle to the homelessness problem. Getting these veterans to safety is something that is possible but it is also not something that can be done via demand and requirement. There has to be a building of trust or perhaps a moment of clarity for it to sink in that help is there and that it should be taken. The racial disparity that exists when it comes to this paradigm is also disconcerting. Even with the bad optics and outcomes that seem to typify the VA at times, they are at least trying their best and are hopefully improving by the day.

References

Barber, B. (2017). County has "effectively" ended homelessness among veterans. daytondailynews. Retrieved 8 May 2017, from http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/local-military/county-has-effectively-ended-homelessness-among-veterans/BtZ3kAgARSlQP6hjrNAILK/

Ramsay, J. (2017). McAuliffe: Va. is first state to 'effectively end' veteran homelessness. Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 8 May 2017, from http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/mcauliffe-va-is-first-state-to-effectively-end-veteran-homelessness/article_bdbee22c-1aef-5c1b-a859-f4e5063a0f00.html

VA. (2017). Homeless Veterans. va.gov. Retrieved 8 May 2017, from https://www.va.gov/homeless/