Every four years the citizens of the United States of America have the privilege of going through the process of electing a President; nevertheless, there are those citizens whose maladaptive behavior may prevent them from participating in the election process, however, there voice can still be heard. One of the more popular slogans of every Presidential campaign regardless of political party affiliation is: “No person having served their country in the Armed Forces of America should ever be homeless.” During the Great Depression President Herbert Hoover changed the role the federal government would assume to support needs of the veteran population by establishing the Department of Veteran Affairs to the presidential cabinet. In addition, there …show more content…
Civilians are also suffer from the impact of homelessness. According to the Los Angeles Almanac there are approximately 27,015homeless people living in Los Angeles, 2733 are veterans (Thornton, 2016). In addition, there are 46,874 homeless people in the County of Los Angeles 4,362 are veterans (Thornton, 2016). In the past, veterans suffered dramatically from the horrors of the Vietnam War. When the soldiers returned, they were called baby killers. Unlike any other American War, the Vietnam War Veteran was looked down upon. There was no consideration made for them to understand many of the adverse effect the war had on them. Many of them faced mental health illnesses. This is not just a Vietnam War Veteran era. However, military personnel still are forced to process events the average person may not ever have to process. In war, there are many casualties not just the obvious, who have suffered, but those who find, the memories unbearable (Hunt, 2010). Under those conditions, Veterans often deal with dual diagnosis of substance abuse or dependence, as well as mental health disorders along with …show more content…
“Twenty percent are veterans, African Americans make up half of the Los Angeles County homeless population- disproportionately high compared to the percent of African Americans in the county over all ( about nine percent).” (Thornton, 2016). Homeless data was collected nationally, and there are 578,424 people that are homeless, 84,291 (fifteen percent), are considered chronically homeless (Henry, Cortes, Shivji, Buck, Khadduri, & Culhane,