Jeb Bush Showed He Doesn't Think Much About Homeless Veterans

Jeb Bush just proved he's a typical politician. He must not think much about veterans if he didn't pay attention all along.

Bush was asked how he'd take care of veterans while campaigning in Florida. This is what he had to say about homeless veterans.

"And in Houston, Texas, today, there are no homeless veterans," Bush said.

This program, Bush said, was an example of the effectiveness of "bottom-up government." "They didn't wait for a federal government to create a program," he said of Houston. "They didn't wait for Washington to do anything. They said, 'This is the definition of who we are.'"

But as veterans know, this change was one of the few things Obama did to undo the neglect veterans faced everyday living on the streets of this nation.

"In 2009, as part of a broader initiative on homelessness, President Barack Obama announced a plan to end veteran homelessness nationwide by 2015 -- a goal that wasn't entirely fulfilled, according to a June 2015 Houston Chronicle news story."

Here's the rest of the article

Bush overstates success of city's efforts to reduce homeless vet numbers
San Antonio Express
By Emma Hinchliffe, PolitiFact Texas
January 16, 2016

At a campaign stop in West Palm Beach on Dec. 28, 2015, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush answered questions about immigration, gun control and his candidacy for president.

Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, speaks during a campaign event at the Coca Cola bottling plant in Atlantic, Iowa, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015.
(AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

After his speech to an audience of Florida Republicans at the Forum Club of Palm Beaches, Bush was asked, "If elected president, what would you and your administration do to improve veterans' medical benefits?"

Bush said he would institute career civil service reform at the Veterans Administration, lead the VA to focus on "being world class for a few selected unique challenges veterans face" rather than providing all services, and give veterans more choices on where to go for their health care.

Then, Bush brought up his childhood home, Houston.
read more here

Guess he didn't pay attention to homeless veterans before he decided to run for President.

Homeless Veterans Fact Sheet
June 2008

Approximately 40% of homeless men are veterans, although veterans comprise only 34% of the general adult male population. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that on any given night, 200,000 veterans are homeless, and 400,000 veterans will experience homelessness during the course of a year (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, 2006). 97% of those homeless veterans will be male (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2008). The National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients reports that veterans account for 23% of all homeless people in America (U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Urban Institute, 1999).

Homeless veterans walked the streets through many presidents. If he doesn't understand it now, he never will. The problem is, none of them do on either side. They just use veterans for votes then blame someone else for what isn't being done to treat them right.