The Effect of Poor Health and Unemployment On Homelessness Among Veterans
According to the Homeless Research Institute, veterans compose more of the homeless population than they do the civilian population, formulating only 11% of civilian life compared to 26% of homeless population (Veterans Inc.). Although not all veterans wear camouflage, all face similar struggles upon returning to civilian life. Unfortunately as they return to civilian life their needs hinder. As a result, veterans face a future of poverty, illness, and above all, homelessness. Homelessness occurs as an unfortunate and common future for veterans due to high unemployment and poor health.
Upon return, veterans face a battle of readjustment into civilian life, which abides as no child’s play. These endeavors ultimately generate hopeless results, including vagrancy. One of the main contributors to homelessness is unemployment, where veterans often lack the skills that many nonmilitary people have
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One in 10 veterans return disabled post service primarily because of combat (Veterans Inc.). A handicapped veteran limits their job exploring opportunities as they feel lame, or incapable. In return this inhibits their transition into civilian life, an imperative step to avert homelessness. Studies show that serious injury exists as the second biggest reason vets struggled to adapt (Morin). Physical disabilities lead to unmotivated spirits to acquire employment, and easy routes towards destitution. Among handicap impairment, traumatic brain injury, or TBI, leaves vets “unemployable” due to their condition. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs states that “after an injury, a number of symptoms arise including headaches, dizziness/problems walking, fatigue, irritability, memory problems and problems paying attention” all of which affect a veterans work
Veterans and our soldiers are coming home from war or getting out of the military and when they get home they can’t afford rent or they have a mental disease from war. Homeless veterans tend to experience homelessness longer than non-veteran homeless. This should not be happening to our soldiers. This is very undesirable for our troops to come home and becoming homeless. They fight for our freedom and our rights and we repay them by becoming homeless.
Although there has been a decline in the number of homeless Veterans since this announcement, the current glide path suggests they will miss the goal unless services are expanded and more success is achieved. In fact, in 2012, VA served more than 240,000 Veterans who were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless—21 percent more than the year before. These numbers suggest the VA is becoming more effective and is serving more of the demographic in need, but it also paints an unacceptable picture of nearly a quarter million Veterans who were faced with life on the streets that year. More disturbing than this is the fact the percentage of homeless female Veterans with children increases each year, despite current VA
When writing my exploratory paper I got a better chance to go into depth into my topic and seen multiple different perspectives. I think the exploratory essay gave me a better chance to understand a topic in which most people tend ignore or do not really care about. My topic is “Homeless Veterans in America”. I think I chose this topic because when I walk down the streets I see a homeless person holding up a “I am a homeless veteran”. I had a question in my head.
Is it the stresses of war and inadequate job training? In addition, could it be untreated PTSD that keeps veterans from being productive once back in civilian life, thus causing the risk of homelessness? PTSD is one of the leading problems leading to homelessness among our veterans. As a veteran, myself, I understand the day to day struggles to come to grips with some things that were experienced as a soldier. For example, seeing fellow soldiers shot or killed, or the people you’re there to help turn on you, it’s a living nightmare.
I chose this topic because there seems to be a growing epidemic of homeless veterans in our country. This is very sad when you think of how those men and women voluntarily signed up to serve. There are so many Americans that live by the slogan “Land of the Free because of the Brave” yet, you have so many brave men and women eating out of garbage cans and sleeping under bridges. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans there are several factors that contributed to displacement of veterans such as shortage of affordable housing, low income, and inadequately healthcare. As well as the lack of family and social support not to mention the returning home wounded veterans suffering with the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression
One of the main causes of homeless veterans is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD. “ is a medical problem where
According to many sources, veterans are at a significantly high risk of becoming homeless if they have low socioeconomic status, a mental disorder, and/or a history of substance abuse. One contributing factor to lower socioeconomic status among veterans is a higher likelihood of being unemployed than their peers. According to The U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs (the VA), the trend in unemployment compensation for veterans is 4.4 weeks longer than the general public in post 9/11 years.
In America people would like to assume that not only the current soldiers defending our country but also the future soldiers would have enough resources to provide for themselves and their families, but in all reality this isn’t true. According to the State of the Union in 2022 there were 1.3 million active duty soldiers in the United States Military. Within that a large percentage either came from a background of poverty or are headed in a similar direction. Lots of people don’t understand that living in poverty as a child makes people more likely to join the military as adults. While living in poverty people typically look for any way out that they can find.
The VA needs to change the way it deals with Veterans and their bout with homelessness, consistent and worthwhile employment, and mental
[Homelessness] is associated with a host of other negative outcomes, including a wide range of serious medical problems, mental health and substance abuse problems, premature mortality, frequent hospitalizations, greater than average costs per hospital stay, and incarceration” (Tsai and Rosenheck). This shows that when veterans become homeless, they get exposed to an abundance of problems, leaving them deeper in debt and danger. Because of this, veterans get farther and farther stuck into homelessness, meaning early action is necessary. Helping veterans is not fully agreed upon
In the article a world without work it is shown just how important labor is for not just veterans but all americans across the country, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. veteran population was more than 21 million strong as of 2014.”, that 's 7% of the entire American population in 2014. This may not seem like a very large number but about 360,000 military members leave the service each year creating the need for more jobs. The problem with a lack of jobs for veterans is rooted at the lack of awareness of just how valuable these people are in the workforce. It has been found that veterans can bring leadership skills, technical expertise, and the ability to learn new skills more quickly than the average job
Secondly, some veterans will come back from war and if they were shot or experienced heavy damage to the head, they can have severe brain injuries and when they’re homeless and they don’t have much help, that can be horrible for the homeless veterans. Lastly, while veterans are fighting in wars, if they get shot or a grenade goes
With the increased use of housing-based assistance programs being created, there is a positive outlook for homeless looking for assistance getting back on their feet by acquiring affordable housing. The ability to apply and gain benefits through state and federal programs is helping to provide food and some financial assistance to the homeless population as well as a community outreach programs being deployed in cities all over the country. New opportunities for employment and training are available for those who are homeless and looking to get back into the workforce and get off the street. The road ahead for the homeless population is, of course, paved with struggles and detours, but with the continued efforts of our country, states and communities we can work together to aid in the reduction of homelessness with the continued efforts in creating and maintaining affordable housing programs, assistance programs, and workforce development
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed an unusual burden on the disability compensation program. Today, injuries vastly outnumber deaths when compared to previous wars. As of 2012, there were twenty-two million veterans living in the United States, 2.4 million of which had served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were approximately 3.5 million veterans living with some degree of a physical disability related to their military service, and nearly one-fifth of all veterans reported some level of psychological disorder. Approximately 200,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have filed for disability claims, straining VA resources.
Thus, it was hard for veterans to transition from their service back to a civilian lifestyle, due to the care that they receive from institutions and social perspectives. Furthermore, during the late 1800’s, institutions that were built for disabled veterans were usually in the outskirt of the town, creating a separation from society to further stigmatize veterans (Gerber, 2016). Isolationism causes more problems for veterans, which is shown in “Disabled”, when the protagonist of the story became isolated from a normal lifestyle to an institution. In addition, when the protagonist stated, “Why don’t they come?” (Owen, 44).