On the radio yesterday, I heard a story about this new report on homeless veterans from the National Alliance to End Homeless that included the striking fact that veterans "represent roughly 26 percent of homeless people, but only 11 percent of the civilian population 18 years and older. This is true despite the fact that veterans are better educated, more likely to be employed, and have a lower poverty rate than the general population." The report is chock full o' solutions, but clearly on some level the homelessness problem among veterans just scratches the surface of challenges that people face after wartime. Kay Steiger had a Veterans' Day article looking at some mental health issues, and congressional efforts to get education benefits provided in a form National Guard members can actually use.
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Veterans' Benefits
13 Nov 2007 02:22 pm
Comments (9)
Shameful.
As my doubts increase about our strategy in Iraq, news like this on the home front makes me want to despair.
One thing I will never get is why Democrats don't constantly hammer Republicans over the head for our poor treatment of veterans. One of the reasons so many people accept the mindless Republican talking point that the only way to support our troops is by sending them into battle is because the Democrats don't harp on this stuff enough. Make homeless veterans, PTSD, and Gulf War Syndrome household words.
"26 percent of homeless people, but only 11 percent of the civilian population 18 years and older"
What percentage of veterans are male, and what percentage of homeless are male? I bet if you adjust for gender, most (not all) of the disparity disappears.
"One thing I will never get is why Democrats don't constantly hammer Republicans over the head for our poor treatment of veterans."
Perhaps because Democrats currently control Congress, and thus have the power to treat them better (but, alas, don't)?
Sk
I'm also curious about the "veterans are on average more educated" line. Veterans may be more educated on average, but are homeless veterans? I mean, consider the "more likely to be employed" line. I bet if you separate out homeless veterans versus regular homeless people, you'll find that they're equally employed. That is, not employed.
Have 11% of all adults in the US really been in the armed services at some point? That's a horrifyingly large figure for a country that doesn't really face any serious military threats.
Re: Make homeless veterans, PTSD, and Gulf War Syndrome household words.
Making veterans sound like damaged goods and psycho nutjobs could backfire. But where the Democrats should be making hay is about the appalling neglect of wounded veterans.
Re: Have 11% of all adults in the US really been in the armed services at some point? That's a horrifyingly large figure for a country that doesn't really face any serious military threats.
What's so horrifying about it? If it was over 50% it would be scary but 11% is not that many. I suspect it was higher in the past, and may be higher in several Euroepan countries due to conscription.
One additional hypothesis thats explains a higher correlation between veteran status and homelessness, based on the perception that most of the homeless men in my city that are in their forties (too young for vietnam, too old for the current conflicts) :
A person from a poor or lower middleclass socioeconomic background born in 1960 would find himself in 1983 with greatly reduced job opportunities as well as higher social dysfunction in his neighborhood when compared with his father. So he may have found it his only option to join the Army. The Army was rapidly expanding due to Reagan buildup in the early eighties and standards were a little laxer and screening for psychological problems was pretty much nonexistant. So he did his 2-4 years and got out, and got back to a still socially dysfunctional neighborhood and few good job prospects. So, in summary, your 47 year old homeless vet may be that way because a person with some latent psychological problems may have been in the army because its the only job he could get when he was 23.
Some people benefit greatly from the military experience; as mentioned above veterans are better educated and have a lower poverty rate on average. Because, on average, it does a great job of providing focus and maturity if your are lacking it. But, for some cases, it does not, and in fact cannot help you and in the event of an actual war it will really mess you up.
I suppose it's horrifying to think that 11% of the population have actually been in combat... but of course there the problem is that I misunderstood "veteran" to mean "combat veteran".
Comments closed November 27, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
Time for a new bumper sticker:
Support the Troops!
26% of the homeless in America
Posted by bob | November 13, 2007 2:34 PM