Texas
233 Funded beds
15,434 est. homeless veterans
Comprehensive Homeless Center
In 1990, Dallas VA Medical Center introduced a Comprehensive Homeless Center (CHC), which helps mentally and physically ill homeless veterans rejoin the community as productive citizens.
Veterans Industries
Compensated Work Therapy (CWT)This therapeutic work program provides vocational re-training for homeless veterans, allowing them to prepare to re-enter the workforce while earning income. The Transitional Work Experience program places veterans at industrial locations and functions as a temporary employment service. The Transitional Residence program provides a home environment for veterans who are enrolled in the CWT program. This program is currently available in Dallas and Bonham.
Day Resource Veterans Rehabilitation ProgramCombines a CWT program with substance abuse treatment and is located at the City of Dallas Day Resource Center, 901 South Ervay in downtown Dallas.
Domiciliary Care ProgramVANTHCS has a comprehensive inpatient assessment, treatment and rehabilitation program specifically for homeless veterans.
Health Care for Homeless Veterans ProgramAn outreach program emphasizing assistance for mentally ill and chemically addicted homeless veterans which includes structured residential care focusing on compliance with prescribed treatment, sobriety, employment and independent living. Veteran benefits counseling is also available.
VA Transitional Housing ProgramThere are two VA transitional housing programs available to homeless veterans enrolled in homeless treatment programs.
Fort Worth Homeless Veterans ProgramThis is a joint venture between VA and Fort Worth's Presbyterian Night Shelter, providing veterans an opportunity to work for pay while participating in a residential treatment program. Modeled after the Day Resource Veterans Rehabilitation Program, the Fort Worth program arranges for veterans to attend chemical addiction treatment groups to enhance their self-reliance through other special programs. The Fort Worth Homeless Veterans Program also includes outreach services, Social Security counseling and VA benefits/application assistance.
Veterans Employment Services
Veterans who are in need of any of these services are encouraged to contact the Comprehensive Homeless Center's Outreach Team at either of the following locations:
Dallas Day Resource Center901 South ErvayDallas, TX (972) 953-8227Homeless Veterans Rehab Program2320 Cypress St.Fort Worth, TX(817) 225-7160 http://www.va.gov/vanthcs/homeless.htm
New York
274 Funded Beds
12,700 est. homeless veterans
New York Harbor Healthcare System Homeless ProgramsThe homeless veterans treatment programs at the New York Harbor Healthcare System provide a continuum of care which includes outreach, case management, a drop-in center, residential treatment, supported work therapy and either transitional or permanent housing. Recognized as one of the VA's Comprehensive Homeless Centers, most of VA's specialized programs for homeless veterans are available. All of these programs have received a 3-year CARF accreditation.
Project TORCHProject TORCH (The Outreach and Rehabilitation Center for Homeless Veterans) a drop-in, multi-service center for homeless veterans is located in a VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in downtown Brooklyn, New York. Veterans from the metropolitan New York City area can receive services if they are homeless and are eligible for VA healthcare.
Project TORCH offers a wide range of services. These include: medical, mental health and substance abuse treatment; case management; benefits counseling; daily lunch and 12-step meetings. Showers, clothing and laundry are available on-site. Homeless veterans participate in educational and support groups, in the Veterans Advisory Board, and as volunteers in the TORCH Program. In addition to on-site services, outreach and case management are provided in community locations where homeless veterans congregate, such as shelters and soup kitchens. Project TORCH links veterans with programs in the community as well as VA's Compensated Work Therapy, the Supportive Housing Program and the Domiciliary to help them move toward independent living.
The Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans ProgramLocated at the VA's St. Albans, Queens, campus, the Domiciliary provides rehabilitation services to homeless men and women veterans in a warm, homelike setting. Veterans generally remain in the program four months, developing the life skills and the work attitudes and behavior necessary for successful transition to productive lives in the community. Random testing for alcohol and illicit drugs is required. The program is organized into levels of increasing responsibility and skill attainment. Comprehensive medical, psychiatric and psychosocial assessment and treatment are provided. Individual and group counseling and vocational rehabilitation are offered, as well as an array of educational groups such as relapse prevention, anger management, and social skills.
Compensated Work TherapyThis is an intensive vocational rehabilitation program which is time-limited. A paid work assignment helps prepare veterans to return to work. Payment is based on the specific job requirements. All veterans enrolled in this program receive group therapy and on-site supervision of their job assignment. The Vets HOPE Program provides the opportunity for qualified veterans receiving NYC public assistance and enrolled in VA substance abuse treatment programs to participate in CWT as a Workfare assignment. These veterans are able to save their CWT earnings while continuing to receive public assistance. Participation requires that the veteran complete a Plan of Self-Support component which includes monitoring the veteran's CWT savings.
Supportive Housing ProgramThis program assists homeless veterans with obtaining available housing suitable to their needs. They offer weekly "Housing Clinics" at VA hospitals in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan to provide information about housing to any interested veteran. The Housing for Homeless veterans Program works with eligible homeless veterans to obtain both transitional and permanent housing. Case monitoring is provided. Staff work closely with all of the VA specialized homeless programs to develop housing resources and to link homeless veterans to the right type and level of housing.
Need More Information?Call Julie Irwin, Program Coordinator at Project TORCH, at (718) 439-4345.
VISN3 Homeless Veterans Resources•
Incarcerated Veterans Outreach Initiative
Taylor Hallman, CSW, 914-737-4400 x3397
•
James J. Peters VA Medical Center Homeless Veterans Community Support Services Program
Joseph Macaluso, Veterans Industries Manager, 718-741-4438
• VA New Jersey Health Care System Programs for Homeless Veterans
Donna Branca, Clinical Coordinator, 908-647-0180, x16921
• VA New York Harbor Healthcare System Homeless Programs
Julie Irwin, Program Coordinator at Project TORCH, 718-439-4345
• VA Northport Medical Center Homeless Veterans Services Program
Carol Krishnamoorthy, MSW, Program Coordinator, 631-261-4400, x2204
http://www1.va.gov/visns/visn03/homelessny.asp
Jun 24, 2006 12:27 pm US/Eastern
Iraq Veterans Facing Homelessness
NEW YORK (AP) ― As a member of the National Guard, Nadine Beckford patrolled New York train stations after Sept. 11 with a 9mm pistol, then served a treacherous year in Iraq.Now, six months after returning, Beckford lives in a homeless shelter."I'm just an ordinary person who served. I'm not embarrassed about my homelessness, because the circumstances that created it were not my fault," said Beckford, 30, who was a military-supply specialist at a base in Iraq that was a sitting duck for around-the-clock attacks, "where hell was your home."Thousands of veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing a new nightmare -- the risk of homelessness. The government estimates that several hundred vets who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are homeless on any given night around the country, although the exact number is unknown.The reasons that contribute to this new wave of homelessness are many: Some are unable to cope with life after daily encounters with insurgent attacks and roadside bombs; some can't navigate the government red tape; others simply don't have enough money to afford a house or apartment.They are living on the edge in towns and cities big and small from Washington state to Florida. But the hardest hit are in New York City, because housing costs here "can be very tough," said Peter Dougherty, head of the Homeless Veterans Program at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.Former Army Pfc. Herold Noel had nowhere to call home after returning from Iraq last year. He slept in his Jeep, parked anywhere in New York "where I wouldn't get a ticket.""Then the nightmares would start," said the 26-year-old, who drove a military fuel truck in Iraq -- one of the war's most dangerous jobs.At one point, he saw a friend's leg get blown off. "I saw a baby decapitated when it was run over by a truck. I relived that every night," said Noel, who walks with shrapnel in his knee and suffers from severe post-traumatic stress syndrome.To help people like Noel, the VA gives grants to nonprofit, private housing organizations that offer about 8,000 free beds nationwide. The space isn't always enough to accommodate everyone in desperate need of shelter among the more than 500,000 vets of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been discharged from the military so far.When Noel got back, the shattered soldier couldn't immediately find a job to support his wife and children, and all the housing programs for vets he knew of "were overbooked," he said.The family ended up in a Bronx shelter "with people who were just out of prison, and with roaches," he said. "I'm a young black man from the ghetto, but this was culture shock. This is not what I fought for, what I almost died for. This is not what I was supposed to come home to."Noel now attends a Brooklyn program to get a job in studio sound production. He also is the protagonist of the documentary film "When I Came Home," which was named best New York-made documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival this year.Just after the news reports about his plight came out, he got a call from the VA granting him the 100 percent disability compensation he sought -- after being turned down.He's not blaming the military, which "helped make my dreams come true. I had a house, a car -- they gave me everything they promised me," he said."It's up to the government and the people we're defending to take care of their soldiers."Before she went to war, Beckford put all her belongings in storage. And while in Iraq, she sent most of her National Guard earnings of about $25,000 a year into her New York bank account. When she returned, the Brooklyn storage locker had been emptied, as was her bank account. She believes her boyfriend took everything and disappeared; she reported the thefts to police, but "he just vanished." go here for the rest
http://wcbstv.com/local/Iraq.Veterans.Homeless.2.235867.html
What shocked me about Florida is here in Central Florida, there is not one single veterans shelter. The homeless veterans are in with the general population of the homeless. Although the unique problems of the veterans need to be addressed they are placed with all homeless. This will condemn them to a lifetime of homelessness if their problems are not addressed. Veteran's clinics and service organizations can treat problems like PTSD and substance abuse, but most of the homeless veterans cannot get to them and when they do, they need to be back at the shelters before their beds are given away. While some of the steps Central Florida has taken are worthy, they do not come close to addressing homeless veterans problems. When you read at the bottom of this post what Boston managed to do, you will see what kind of programs really do work for the veterans.
Florida
430 Funded beds
19,394 est. homeless veterans
Mobile Service Center
In partnership with the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA), the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs (FDVA), and numerous veterans' service organizations, Volunteers of America of Florida has launched a Mobile Service Center that travels throughout Florida offering health services to the state's estimated 17,000 homeless veterans.
Yet they redirect to the Florida Coalition for the Homeless.
http://www.fchonline.org/
Four Florida Programs Win VA Grants for Homeless Programsposted by Darryl E. on Oct 18, 2007 4:59:46 PM
Four Florida programs share in Veterans Administration grants to public and private non-profit groups to assist homeless veterans worth more than $16 million, the VA recently announced.
The programs included:
Steps to Recovery, Inc. New Port Richey ($143,975); Volunteers of America of Florida ($736,848) in Pensacola; Volunteers of America of Florida ($666,848) in Punta Gorda; and The House of Hope ($1,575,470) in St. Petersburg.
"For the last 20 years, VA has worked with its community partners to lift veterans out of homelessness," said Gordon H. Mansfield, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs, noting the 20th anniversary of its homeless program. "We are making progress by expanding treatment, rehabilitation and safe transitional housing for our homeless veterans, though more remains to be done."
Based on VA’s national estimates, progress is being made for homeless veterans. The number of homeless veterans on any night has decreased 20 percent during the last six years, and veterans as a percent of the adult homeless population has decreased 10 percent.
This latest round of 46 grants creates 950 beds for homeless veterans, bringing to more than 12,000 the number of VA-funded community-based beds provided by public and community non-profit and faith-based organizations in 34 states and the District of Columbia.
More information about VA’s homeless programs is available on the Internet at http://www.va.gov/homeless.
Steps to Recovery seems to lead to sites that take care of people walking again. House of Hope leads to issues and teenagers. Volunteers of America is a mobile van. At least that is what all the links provided. If they are new organizations or ones that have branched out, more information could not be found.
Ryan Svolto, who has battled alcoholism and post-traumatic stress, learned at Serenity House to enjoy crocheting. `I can sit here doing this in front of the TV for hours.'
Homeless vets: A hidden crisis
Darryl E. Owens Sentinel Staff Writer
August 6, 2007
Often, when Ryan Svolto manages to sleep, he finds himself back in Iraq preparing for triage, awash in blood and bodies. But he can't find his medical kit, and, helpless, he thrashes awake, damp with sweat.As an infantry medic, he patched up soldiers wounded in combat in Iraq. Now, Svolto, 24, is trying to fix his own wounded life after a recent stint at a Daytona Beach homeless shelter.
Svolto is one of a growing number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who joined the ranks of Florida's homeless after returning home. Experts say a system already buckling under one of the nation's largest homeless populations might collapse under the weight of a new wave of veterans, many saddled with mental-health issues and crippling brain injuries.
If I could identify and convince every homeless vet in the area to come to a shelter or a transitional-housing program," said Cathy Jackson, executive director of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, "we wouldn't have enough beds for them."For Svolto, it's yet another battle, one he believes he won't be fighting alone."That's the scary part: when they get out of the Army and realize they're not who they used to be," he said. "It seems easier to disappear in the woods and live that way. A lot of these kids aren't going to be prepared. I wasn't prepared."Nearly half of all homeless veterans served in Vietnam. Hamstrung by a lack of job skills, by drug addictions and psychological issues, they became homeless 12 to 15 years after discharge.But veterans of the latest war are hitting the streets much sooner.Problems emerge quicklyA recent report by the Swords to Plowshares' Iraq Veteran Project, a San Francisco advocacy group for veterans, says new vets "are already seeking housing services, some just months after returning from Iraq."But few of them are asking for help so far in Central Florida. New veterans -- including those who served in Kuwait and now Afghanistan and Iraq -- account for just 1 percent of clients in the region using Veterans Affairs' Health Care for Homeless Veterans program, said Dan Robbin, homeless-network coordinator for the region that includes most of Florida.But during the next decade, the VA is "ramping up" with new clinics and medical centers across the state to help new vets, he said.
What the VA doesn't provide is transitional housing, which grants vets safe harbor to kick drugs, build job skills and return to self-sufficiency.
"There is no 28-day treatment program that's going to wave the magic wand and throw a little bit of pixie dust out there and make it all right," said Thomas Griffin, CEO of The Transition House, a veterans-recovery program in Kissimmee.It's a long, tough slog that largely falls to community-based programs.
The VA paid $2.8 million in 2006 to partially defray 20 Florida programs, accounting for 450 transitional-housing beds.
Another 50 beds are in the planning stages, Robbin said.But that puts barely a dent in the problem, advocates say.
The Department of Children and Families recently estimated that veterans comprise about 18 percent of Florida's homeless, with best estimates at about 18,000.And women now count toward the tally: Though only a fraction of homeless vets (less than 5 percent in this region), new female vets are more vulnerable to homelessness than nonveteran women, a recent VA study found.Stress tests relationshipsExperts think thousands of new vets burdened with war-related psychological problems will make a bad problem even worse.
A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that nearly 20 percent of Iraq vets show clinical signs of major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.Similarly, about a fifth of them have traumatic brain injuries, often the result of being wounded by roadside bombs. Such injuries can produce personality changes, mood swings and impaired memory.
A CLOSER LOOK - Veterans are thought to comprise about 18% of Florida's homeless, an estimated 18,000 people. - A study suggests that some Iraq war veterans are hitting the streets almost immediately after returning home, and few are asking for help. - Veterans Affairs paid $2.8 million in 2006 to partially defray 20 Florida programs for homeless vets, accounting for 450 transitional-housing beds.
http://cc.msnscache.com/cache.aspx?q=72277892597225&mkt=en-US&lang=en-US&w=f256d9b8&FORM=CVRE8
'Stand Down' helps veterans
September 23, 2007 Homeless get medical care BY SUSANNE CERVENKA FLORIDA TODAY
TITUSVILLE - Eugene Mann waited to get a tooth filled, but still managed to keep a smile on his face.
Then again, the 58-year-old Titusville resident had been through worse situations. After serving in Vietnam, the former Marine spent time homeless.
Mann has since turned his life around after getting assistance at a "Stand Down" similar to the one hosted Saturday at the Disabled American Veterans Auxillary Post 109 in Titusville.
"You can't beat it," said Mann, who still comes to the Stand Down for dental care.
"Stand down" was a term developed during Vietnam to refer to giving soldiers respite from combat so they could get hot food, a shower, medical evaluation and a hair cut.
Post 109 has hosted the event, which offers food, clothing, medical care, legal advice and other services to homeless veterans, each fall since 2000. Past Commander Isaac Ramos feared services offered at another "Stand Down" each spring in Cocoa weren't reaching homeless veterans in North Brevard.
That year, the post set 25 veterans as its goal to determine the event's success, Ramos said. They surpassed the goal by 100. Since then, the Titusville Stand Down helps 110 to 160 veterans each year.
"It just bloomed," he said.
While Stand Downs provide veterans with immediate aid of food, clothing and medical attention, they also serve as a starting point to link them with the long-term benefits to which they are entitled from their military service, said Don Wasserman, with Veterans Affairs in Viera.
Contact Cervenka at 360-1018 or scervenka@floridatoday.com.
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070923/NEWS01/709230345/1006/rss01
California1,875 Funded beds
49,546 est. homeless veterans
In California, VA operates major medical centers in Loma Linda, Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Diego, which comprise the Desert Pacific Healthcare Network, and in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Sacramento and Fresno, which comprise the Sierra Pacific Network.
In fiscal year 2006, VA facilities in the Sierra Pacific Network had more than 1.9 million outpatient visits and 21,000 inpatient admissions. Facilities in the Desert Pacific Healthcare Network had nearly 2.9 million outpatient visits and more than 32,300 inpatient admissions.
VA California provides a full range of medical services, including acute medical, surgical, psychiatric and nursing home care. Specialty units at most medical centers offer veterans cardiac catheterization, lithotripsy, clinical pharmacology, MRI, PET scanning, radiation therapy, women’s health programs, and treatment for spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorders and blind rehabilitation. The medical centers are augmented by 50 community outpatient clinics located throughout the state. These clinics offer a full array of primary care services for veterans in the communities where they live and work.
Each medical facility is affiliated with at least one major medical school (University of California, San Francisco, Davis, Irvine, San Diego and Los Angeles; Stanford University; University of Southern California and Loma Linda University) and provides training for more than 4,000 students annually in nursing, dentistry, dietetics, audiology and speech pathology, medical technology, radiation technology, pharmacology, podiatry, psychology, physical and occupational therapy and social work. The San Francisco VA Medical Center (VAMC) is the site of the VA pacemaker and defibrillator monitoring program of the western United States. The hospital also has an intensive care unit.
The Center of Quality Management in Public Health, located at the Palo Alto medical center, is a national program responsible for developing and maintaining VA’s national disease case registries and develops quality management tools to improve public health activities throughout VA. Additionally, the Palo Alto VA Health Care System was designated one of VA's four polytrauma centers caring for active duty service members injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco medical centers are national VA Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education and Clinical Centers. San Francisco was the first VA facility to conduct deep brain stimulation procedures to control the devastating effects of Parkinson’s movement disorders.
The Palo Alto, San Diego, Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco medical centers excel in the quality of health care delivered to veterans and have been awarded VA national centers of excellence in a wide variety of specialty programs: cardiac surgery, human immunodeficiency virus, post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, renal dialysis, spinal cord injury, autopsy, comprehensive medical rehabilitation and domiciliary care for homeless veterans. The Palo Alto medical center is home to the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and is one of only two in the nation that offers an inpatient women’s PTSD program. San Diego was also designated a center of excellence in PTSD. Long Beach is the site for the largest spinal cord injury (SCI) unit in the VA, providing specialized acute and rehabilitative care to veterans throughout the western United States. SCI centers are also located in San Diego and Palo Alto. The San Francisco VAMC has increased use of telemedicine providing specialty services to outlying community based outpatient clinics.
VA homeless programs in northern and southern California are nationally recognized. VA has partnered with relief organizations such as the Red Cross and US Vets to establish homeless shelters and residential housing programs for homeless veterans with substance abuse disorders. The residential housing program, originally known as Westside Residential (in conjunction with the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System), was expanded to Long Beach, and now has sites at Cabrillo and Compton. Working with the Loma Linda medical center, an additional site was designated for residential programs at the former Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino.
VA Palo Alto has one of the largest Compensated Work Therapy Programs in VA. A 100-bed domiciliary and extensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation programs work together to provide homeless veterans with the tools they need to succeed and work through various substance abuse issues, PTSD, job training and other social issues, when needed.
A VA Comprehensive Homeless Center was established in northern California, providing a large drop-in and treatment center. Services there include outreach, assessment, stabilization and placement at transitional housing sites in Oakland, Alameda, Treasure Island, San Jose, Fresno, Monterey, Sacramento, San Francisco, Novato and Eureka. Long-term housing, employment and re-integration into the workforce are available through veterans industries, supported by the VA. The San Francisco medical center is one of 10 national sites focusing on homeless women veterans and their children. This program was the first domiciliary to be awarded status as a national program of clinical excellence for treating homeless veterans. These programs continue a strong outreach effort that informs homeless veterans of benefits and services available to them.
VA Long Beach and Greater Los Angeles provide outreach to veterans confined in correctional facilities. The Incarcerated Veterans Program provides veterans with information and VA resources that are available to them upon their release. These veterans also are offered case-management assistance to support their transition back into the community.
http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/statesum/cass.asp
In California, more than 13,000 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terrorism have sought VA health care. Many veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers at 21 locations throughout the state. These community-based Vet Centers serve as an important resource for veterans who, once home, often seek out fellow veterans for advice or help transitioning back to civilian life. VA Long Beach and Greater Los Angeles facilities have opened “seamless transition centers” within their hospitals to help returning veterans navigate VA’s benefits and health care systems and connect them with the resources they need.
Midwest
Admission Intake
The Shelter is currently accepting applications for admission.
Basic Admission Criteria:
U.S. Military Veteran.
Must be a US Military Veteran with a DD-214
(any discharge other than dishonorable)
Males only (at this time).
Clinical Criteria: Substance Abuse Disorder and/or PTSD.
Sobriety days needed: 45 days.
No convictions for sexual offenses.
No felony convictions for violent offenses.
Submit complete applications only to:
Anita Dierks, M.A.
Director of Case Management Services
MSHV
119 N. West St.
Wheaton, IL 60187
If you have any questions, please e-mail anita@mshv.org
or call 630.871.VETS.
Services
The Shelter provides a variety of independent living/transition housing services including:
Education (GED/College advising)
Psychotherapy
Substance abuse assessment and treatment.
Legal assistance
Job training and employment/career opportunities
Independent living skills such as budgeting, housekeeping, and preparation of meals are also developed through staff assistance.
In addition, the Shelter develops cooperative relationships with hospitals, physicians, lawyers, educators, and business professionals in the community to provide services offsite. Staff and volunteers will provide transportation to these appointments.
http://www.helpaveteran.org/admissionintake.htm
Massachusetts
378 funded beds
1,680 est. homeless veterans
New England Shelter For Homeless Veterans
The NESHV, Upper explains, was started in 1989 by three Vietnam veterans who went to Washington D.C. to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and were appalled to see all the homeless veterans on the streets. Upon return to Boston, they started a small shelter on the present grounds; it has since expanded to fill the current 10-story Court Street building and offers 306 beds with 20 for women.
NESHV employs 100 full and part-time employees including 30 mostly licensed clinicians in client services all with a yearly budget of $6.1 million. It is an independent not-for-profit corporation and not part of the Veterans' Administration.
http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=81
Boston Journal; For Homeless Veterans, a Barracks
SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: January 18, 1991
Outside a 10-story building in the heart of down town Boston, a weary-looking man squints at a sign that says "New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans" and leans his way through a revolving door. "Law and order," he sighs, moving through a metal detector to the front desk.
Within minutes, the shelter's staff sergeant briefs him on "barracks rules," including regular showers, strict waking hours and an attitude of respect. No drugs, no alcohol, no verbal abuse allowed.
Soon this homeless veteran will have a photo identification card, a platoon assignment and an Army bunk with clean sheets.
A little more than a year ago, homeless veterans in Boston, as in most other American cities, were left to compete with women and children for beds in local shelters that are often crime-ridden. Government officials estimate that nearly one-third of the nation's homeless, perhaps 150,000 people, are veterans, most of them Vietnam War veterans.
Now, night after night, 125 of Boston's estimated 1,500 homeless veterans make their way to the building on Court Street that houses the shelter. It is one of only a handful of shelters in the nation run exclusively by veterans for veterans.
"What we offer these guys is the kind of structure people who have been in the military are familiar with," says Ken Smith, a 38-year-old former Army medic in Vietnam who is a co-founder of the shelter. "That's what these guys need and aren't getting anywhere else."
The shelter, founded in late 1989 by Mr. Smith and three other Vietnam veterans, has been a local success story; it has been commended as a model shelter by local officials and in newspaper editorials.
Besides being given a familiar military atmosphere, the homeless men are offered counseling on drug and alcohol abuse and help in their search for housing and jobs.
In exchange, the veterans, who stay an average of two months, perform four hours of community work each week. The work ranges from sweeping floors to rocking drug-addicted babies in local hospitals.
"In all my travels, this is the best place I've ever seen," George Everson, a 58-year-old Korean War veteran, said in an interview at the shelter.
But the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans has earned more than just the gratitude of its guests.
In 1988 the playwright David Mamet responded to calls for help from Mr. Smith by staging a benefit performance to raise money for the shelter. The benefit, "Sketches of War," was a series of vignettes that featured actors like Al Pacino, Michael J. Fox and Donald Sutherland, and netted $250,000.
Last year President Bush, in keeping with his practice of honoring volunteer efforts throughout the country under his daily "1,000 points of light" program, singled out the New England shelter for commendation. "We are Point of Light No. 142," said Mr. Smith, a wiry, boyish-looking man. "That's right. I'm serious -- one-four-two."
There are other numbers, too. Of approximately 1,000 men who have come to the shelter, 275 have found permanent jobs and housing, he said.
Some guests and other shelter workers have criticized Mr. Smith's military-like rules as being too strict.
"They get too much into my personal life," said one veteran, who complained that he was barred from the shelter for several days after Mr. Smith found he was using drugs.
Mr. Smith said the veteran's concerns were warranted. "You have a drug problem and you come for help, I'll help you," he said. "You bring drugs in here, you're gone."
But others say the strictness of the shelter helps restore a sense of order to their lives.
"This isn't really boot camp," said Otis Hilliard, a Vietnam veteran and former marine from Memphis. "It is just a disciplined place that helps people get their lives back together."
Peter, another Vietnam veteran, who declined to give his last name, agreed with Mr. Hilliard. "I've been a lot of places, and this is the Cadillac of shelters as far as I'm concerned," he said.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD8163EF93BA25752C0A967958260
Shelters take many vets of Iraq, Afghan wars
Also housing those from earlier eras
By Anna Badkhen, Globe Correspondent August 7, 2007
NORTHAMPTON -- After Kevin returned from Iraq, he spent most nights lying awake in his Army barracks in Hawaii, clutching a 9mm handgun under his pillow, bracing for an attack that never came.
His fits of sleep brought nightmares of the wounded and dying troops whom Kevin, a combat medic, had treated over 16 months of suicide attacks and roadside bombings. He kept thinking about an attack that killed 13 of his comrades. He hated himself for having survived.
Soon he was drinking so heavily that the Army discharged him. He moved back in with his parents in Narragansett, R.I., and drank even more, until they asked him to leave. Less than two years after he returned, Kevin became one of a growing number of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who are now homeless.
"I lived in my car, at the Wal-Mart parking lot," said Kevin, who asked that his last name not be published because he is considering reenlisting. He has been staying at a homeless shelter in Northampton since early July.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/07/
shelters_take_many_vets_of_iraq_afghan_wars/
My naivete is starling at times. Coming from Boston, I thought every large city had homeless shelters specifically for veterans. I knew about the problem with homeless veterans but what I didn't know was there was so little being done for them.
It really is amazing how this search started. After being an advocate, volunteering my time reaching out to them to end the stigma of PTSD for 25 years, I've been focusing on national issues. Back home, it was easy to get involved with writing about the shelter. Yet down here in Florida it dawned on me that I was really doing very little here in my own back yard.
Last week I started to seriously make phone calls. I finally understood why I couldn't find shelters in Florida to donate to. I kept sending my money back to the Boston shelter. Phone calls went in circles. I couldn't get any numbers, facts, from anyone. No one could tell me how many homeless veterans Florida has or specifically Central Florida in Orange and Seminole County. No one could tell me how many combat veterans we have from Vietnam or Iraq and Afghanistan. No one could tell me much of anything other than the Orlando VA clinic has treated 3,000 from Iraq and Afghanistan already but they didn't know how many were being treated for PTSD.
I am still waiting to hear back from the VA in Orlando and the Vietnam Veterans to see what information they can find. Thinking about all of this, especially with Veterans Day tomorrow, makes me wonder why they would ever feel like "celebrating" when there is so little being done for all of them. They get trapped in a system designed to help them only to find out that same system is leading to denied claims and prolonged battles leading to more homelessness and more suffering. We build them monuments as if that is supposed to heal their wounds or feed their families. We send the National Guard into combat and then do nothing to make sure they still have a business or job to come back to. We do the same to the reservists.
I hear a lot of stories about the sacrifices our men and women in the military are willing to make and make on a daily basis. What I don't hear are the sacrifices we are willing to make for any of them if they should get wounded or need us afterwards. My family tells me that I sacrifice my days (lately my health) on this but when I think about what it's like for our veterans dealing with what they are going through, it is miniscule. I know logically we cannot stop all wars. Surely we can stop seeking them, but to end them will be impossible unless the rest of the world has had enough death and destruction. Until that day comes, we and all other nations, will have to deal with the aftermath of war and what we ask of those we send. Until the day comes when minds are not wounded and bodies are not broken we will have veterans needing care. You could line every street in this nation with as many monuments as you can imagine and as long as we ignore the living monuments of sacrifice in their eyes, it won't make any difference to them at all.
I'll post the information when I find it or get return phone calls. Until then, I am ashamed of Orange County and Seminole County as well as our local elected. I am ashamed of this being the number two largest state for veterans and doing as little as we do for them.
There is a huge monument being built, or already has been built, to disabled veterans. I haven't paid much attention to this because the thought made me sick to my stomach when I think about the homeless veterans and the wounded losing everything. I bet you my last buck that if you asked a healthy combat veteran if he would rather have a monument built or to have the wounded veterans in his city taken care of, he'd pick the wounded. If you really want to honor their service then take care of those who need it. For them Veteran's Day begins the day they come home and ends when their life does. They are veterans everyday!
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
