Nashville shelter prepares for rise in returning vets

Nashville shelter prepares for rise in returning vets
Written by
Patrick Clemens
As residents of the Volunteer State, our history is one of respect and honor for those who have volunteered to serve and defend our nation. Today, we have two more reasons to feel good about our local veterans, both of which were recently reported in The Tennessean.

First, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is having a great deal of success in getting homeless veterans into affordable housing. The second is a story of combat troops returning home to Middle Tennessee from Iraq.

The two stories have more in common than you might imagine. Currently, Nashville/Davidson County has 600-700 homeless veterans. This number has remained constant for years, and the makeup of veterans also is little changed. Sixty-two percent of homeless veterans served in the Vietnam War era or previously. Very few of these homeless veterans served in the global war on terror.

This is about to change. The number of veterans returning will be the largest since the end of the Vietnam War, and we will see a significant increase in the number of homeless veterans in Nashville/Davidson County.