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NEED OUTSTRIPS SUPPLY OF BEDS FOR HOMELESS
VETERANS -- "We all feel like we are fighting
against
a clock. We're absolutely gearing up for a
surge."
Story here...
http://www.mercurynews.com/
news/ci_5565878?nclick_check=1
Story below:
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Need outstrips supply of beds for homeless
veterans
By THOMAS WATKINS Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO- With warmer temperatures arriving, the giant tent that 150
veterans called home for the winter months is being packed away.
"For most of us, it's back on the streets," says Marvin Britton, a
former military policeman who's been crisscrossing the country since
leaving the Army in 1971 after three Vietnam combat tours.
The battered tent, pitched on a Navy parking lot, is reflective of a
problem that almost certainly will worsen as more troops come home from
Iraq and Afghanistan and leave active duty: There aren't enough beds for
those who end up homeless.
"We all feel like we are fighting against a clock," said Toni Reinis,
who runs New Directions Inc., a Los Angeles substance abuse center
providing residential and outpatient care for homeless vets. "We're
absolutely gearing up for a surge."
No one knows for sure how many homeless there are—estimates vary from
hundreds of thousands to millions. According to the Department of
Veterans Affairs, there are about 195,000 homeless veterans on any given
night.
The VA last fall estimated a shortfall of 9,600 "transitional" beds for
those vets. These are accommodations meant to serve as a stepping stone
from the streets to independent living.
The VA has secured funding for up to 1,800 beds to be added by the end
of this year and is seeking $15 million more from Congress for more
beds.
"It's a very, very high priority," said Peter Dougherty, the VA's
director of homeless programs.
There are safety nets for military personnel when they leave the
service. For example, they get free health care for two years. And,
while there were no VA-funded programs catering to homeless vets until
1987, there now are more than 200, Dougherty said.
The VA also has increased the number of health clinics and employs about
230 outreach workers who specifically look out for homeless veterans.
Dougherty said the agency's goal is to catch problems early, before
veterans end up on the streets
In the last two years the VA has classified 1,049 Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans as at risk of homelessness. Of those, about 300 ended up losing
their homes. Dougherty said it can take up to eight years and sometimes
longer for veterans to exhaust options and end up homeless.
Cordney Gordon was one of those recent vets who found himself without a
place to live. The former Marine infantryman from Camp Pendleton who
served once in Afghanistan and twice in Iraq left the military last year
and was on the streets months later.
"I really thought my life was over with," he said.
Anger problems, stress and depression plagued him. After his marriage
broke down, Gordon, 30, had nowhere to live, became suicidal and ended
up in a VA hospital.
Escondido-based nonprofit Interfaith Community Services found him there
and he now lives in one of the group's VA-funded apartments with three
older veterans.
Transitional beds like Gordon's generally are provided by nonprofit or
community groups like Interfaith, to which the VA pays a daily allowance
of about $30 per veteran. However, it can cost groups more than $70 to
look after each veteran, according to Reinis. The rest is raised through
private grants, individual donations, other governmental sources and
fundraising events.
In San Diego, a wealthy city with strong military ties, the tent is a
short-term solution for the winter months. About three-quarters of its
residents—many of them Vietnam-era servicemen who, like Britton, are
battling substance addiction and psychiatric problems—will again "go
bush" for the summer, living under bridges and fending for themselves.
Most of the rest will qualify for drug and alcohol rehabilitation
programs that provide shelter.
The tent is run by the nonprofit group Veterans Village of San Diego.
It's an overflow for the organization's main facility, an old freeway
motel with 87 beds.
Under the supervision of director Al Pavich, the center is undergoing a
transformation into a modern, barracks-style compound that when
completed will have beds for 224 homeless veterans, all of whom will be
required to undergo counseling for drug and alcohol addiction.
"You never leave anyone in the field," said Pavich, a former Navy
officer. "You take care of your own."
Pavich said his facility had a greater than 80 percent success rate,
declared if 12 months after leaving the facility a veteran is sober,
drug and crime free, living on their own and making any required child
support payments.
U.S. House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner, D-Calif.,
recently was in town to help celebrate completion of the first phase of
the veterans' village, including a new kitchen, counseling center and
dining area.
Filner said nonprofits like VVSD do an excellent job looking after
homeless veterans but at a national level more needs to happen. He said
troubling disorders like post traumatic stress are going undetected in
new veterans, something that also happened with returning Vietnam
fighters.
"It's a scandal," Filner said. "But we are repeating the same mistakes
with the Iraq vets. They come home with severe mental issues, they don't
get any help, then it comes out with domestic violence, then on the job,
then loss of a home."
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On the Net:
Veterans Village of San Diego:
http://www.vvsd.org
Department of Veterans Affairs homeless program:
http://www1.va.gov/homeless
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Larry Scott --
