Saturday, November 10, 2007

25% of Homeless Are War Veterans

Check out this recent finding. Next time you see a homeless person, ask if they served.

WASHINGTON - Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.

The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness.

2 comments:

runnerfrog said...

such a sad reality, common to many countries. here in argentina too, the veterans from the malvinas/falklands war are in the same situation. i admit i'm not intelligent enough to understand why the social and institutional disdain they suffer exists; but I still keep wondering and observing. A mask of happiness can be covering our argentinian society values, but is just a hunch.

Philip Metres said...

Hey Runnerfrog,

Some of it has to do with the war experience itself, a profound *unmaking*, to paraphrase Elaine Scarry's words.

BTW, I love that you regular commenters are from Argentina, Hawaii, Milwaukee, and Cleveland. I feel like this is a little globe of us.