Veterans more likely to be homeless, study says

[Joanne98]

Source: USA Today

Military veterans are much more likely to be homeless than other Americans, according to the government's first in-depth study of homelessness among former servicemembers.

About 16% of homeless adults in a one-night survey in January 2009 were veterans, though vets make up only 10% of the adult population.

More than 75,000 veterans were living on the streets or in a temporary shelter that night. In that year, 136,334 veterans spent at least one night in a homeless shelter — a count that did not include homeless veterans living on the streets.

The urgency of the problem is growing as more people return from service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The study found 11,300 younger veterans, 18 to 30, were in shelters at some point during 2009. Virtually all served in Iraq or Afghanistan, said Mark Johnston, deputy assistant secretary for special needs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-10-1Ahomelessvets10_ST_N.htm

[Bigmack]

1. We have to stop making so many veterans.. The Empire is over. nt

[demotech]

2. Join the military!

Got patriotism? Got a home?

[AngryOldDem]

3. A lot some back with severe chemical dependence and mental health problems.

It is absolutely shameful how veterans are treated in this country.

[hamsterjill]

4. +1000

n/t

[Judi Lynn]

5. Send them to war without proper safety equipment to protect them,

fight like the devil to curtail benefits to them and their families while larding the weapons budget, fight them over things like buying their own meals while recuperating at VA hospitals after getting shot up, take their houses if they fall behind in their mortgage payments, don't fight to hold their jobs open for them when they return, and you're going to have a whole lot of homeless, broken people.

This is so damned sad.