In 2009, our country made a goal of ending veteran homelessness by the end of 2015; since then the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), along with a vast network of partnering nonprofits nationwide, have worked toward this goal. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, since 2010, there has been nearly a 33 percent reduction in veteran homelessness. So the good news from this is that, while the goal of ending veteran homelessness may not happen by 2015, the current programs in place are working to help get veterans off the streets.
Unfortunately, veterans with families are having a hard time taking advantage of those functional programs. Currently the funding for these programs dictates that the money must be spent directly on veterans. So if a veteran shows up to a veterans emergency homeless shelter with his or her family, the veteran would be allowed to stay, but the family would not. This places veterans in a tough situation, as they naturally do not want to abandon their families or be separated from them.
The face of homeless veterans has recently changed as more and more veterans that are in need of these types of services seem to have families with them. Every year across the nation there are events designed to help homeless veterans called Stand Down events. These events provide everything from food and clothing to legal services as a means to help them get off the streets.
In a Stand Down event that occurred this year in San Diego (which has one of the densest populations of veterans in the nation), event coordinator Darcy Pavich was interviewed by Quil Lawrence of NPR and stated, This year Ive seen a huge number of families more than Ive ever seen before. The number of children has probably doubled from last year. Fortunately there is a solution that addresses the very problem these veterans and their families face. Right now in Congress is a bill, HR4140, the Homeless Veterans with Children Act.
This bill only seeks to do one thing: to allow the homeless outreach programs to include veteran dependents. It is not seeking additional funding to be taken from our pockets. It only wants to expand who can benefit from the existing funds that are already in place.
This is the best kind of change, one that is virtually painless for us, the citizens of this great nation. The dependency of this bill passing rests upon our state representatives and the pressure they place on getting this bill passed. This requires us taking a few minutes and calling or writing our local representative, asking for their support on this bill.
The VAs motto is taken from Abraham Lincolns second inaugural address, and there is good reason as to why they were chosen, With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nations wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
The Homeless Veterans with Children Act of 2014 embraces the spirit of this quote by seeking to care not only for him who shall have borne the battle, but also for those that depend on those brave men and women.
Cooper Landvatter is a graduate student at the University of Southern California, School of Social Work. Contact him at landvatt@usc.edu.
