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HOME FROM AMERICA'S WARS, YET HOMELESS IN ITS
SUBURBS -- A significant number of homeless
veterans
are living in the shadows in the suburbs,
perpetually
navigating a revolving door between shelters,
temporary homes, and the street.
For more on homeless veterans, use the VA
Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=homeless&op=and
Story here...
http://www.boston.com/news/
local/articles/2007/08/12/home_from_amer
icas_wars_yet_homeless_in_its_suburbs/
Story below:
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Home from America's wars, yet homeless in its
suburbs
By Connie Paige, Globe Correspondent
BEDFORD -- John McCarthy hails from a proud military family. He was
named after a great-uncle gassed by the Germans in World War I. Both his
grandfather and father fought in World War II.
McCarthy himself spent six years in the Navy as a petty officer first
class in a fast-attack nuclear submarine.
But recently the 46-year-old found himself homeless, with little to show
for his military career.
"I'm trying to get totally back on my feet and back into the swing of
things -- which is easier said than done when you're starting from
scratch and have no resources," said McCarthy, when he was enrolled last
month in a 40-bed shelter for homeless veterans at the Edith Nourse
Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford.
McCarthy is one of a significant number of homeless veterans living in
the shadows in the suburbs, perpetually navigating a revolving door
between shelters, temporary homes, and the street. Some veterans
advocates say the ranks of homeless vets may soon be joined by a flood
of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from serious
health and mental health problems needing care not now available.
"Basically, we're very concerned that the condition is going to get
worse," said Raymond O'Brien of Stoneham, national chairman of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars' Homeless Veterans and Rehabilitation Committee
and an appointee to the new Governor's Advisory Council on Veterans'
Services.
O'Brien is among those attempting to address the issue now. He said the
advisory council will work with the Legislature's Joint Committee on
Veterans and Federal Affairs in coming months to try to ensure that a
safety net is in place in time.
Federal government surveys show that one-third of adult homeless men and
nearly one-quarter of all homeless adults across the country have served
in the armed forces. The ratio of veterans among the homeless is the
same in Massachusetts, according to research by the joint legislative
committee. The Bedford center is one of only two in the state run by the
federal government for veterans; the other is in Brockton. Other
homeless shelters -- some exclusively for veterans, others not -- are
run privately or by the state.
While the extent of the problem in area communities cannot be
quantified, local officials and homeless shelter operators say homeless
veterans drift in and out of their programs.
Lowell veterans agent Eric Lamarche said that since he began working
there last September, he has sent about a half-dozen homeless veterans
from his office to the local homeless shelter.
At the 90-bed Lowell Transitional Living Center, where clients sit
outside at makeshift tables in a gritty concrete pen surrounded by
chain-link fence, executive director Joseph Tucker says the facility
takes in veterans from time to time. He says he cannot give firm numbers
because the clients do not always identify themselves as former
military.
Veterans like these become homeless for many reasons, said Deborah
Outing, a spokeswoman for the Bedford veterans hospital. Many have drug-
and alcohol-abuse, marital, or unemployment problems. Others suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder -- a belated reaction to combat causing
anger or other behavioral problems, making it impossible to hold a job.
The syndrome can take years to develop.
A report by the Department of Veterans Affairs released in 2006 shows
that about half of all homeless veterans across the country suffer from
mental illness; more than two-thirds from alcohol or drug abuse; and
nearly 40 percent from both problems.
That squares with the experience of McCarthy, who said he had been
homeless since 2003, when he and his wife separated. McCarthy said he
responded by drinking heavily with buddies, also homeless veterans.
Sometimes they found a bed at night, sometimes they hit the street, he
said.
A 2005 veterans affairs report said Massachusetts had 1,680 homeless
veterans, but only 378 beds to accommodate them, while New Hampshire had
350 homeless veterans, with only 36 beds for them. Not surprisingly, new
local facilities for homeless vets in both states are seeing a flood of
applicants.
Caritas Communities Inc., a private nonprofit corporation opening a
facility for homeless veterans in September at the Bedford hospital,
last month had 85 applicants for 60 rooms, said Mark Winkeller,
executive director.
Peter Kelleher, president and chief executive officer of Harbor Homes
Inc. in Nashua, said his new 40-bed facility for homeless vets was
quickly filled, and last month had 50 on the waiting list. Kelleher said
he is "quite certain it will continue to grow as more people return to
New Hampshire from various places in the world."
Still, veterans in need sometimes refuse services. In Arlington, a
homeless Vietnam veteran periodically stops by the town's veterans'
services office, said director Bill McCarthy, but usually declines help.
"He's a fairly intelligent guy, but he doesn't want to work," McCarthy
said. "He just likes to drink his beers and hang around."
Helping such vets should fall in part to local and state officials, said
state Representative Linda Dean Campbell. The Methuen Democrat, herself
a veteran, is on the joint legislative committee trying to beef up the
state's outreach.
Governor Deval Patrick recently signed off on $15 million in funds for
homeless veterans in the budget year that started last month -- an
increase of more than $700,000 from last year, said committee staffer
Sarah Keller-Litkins.
She said the committee will hold hearings, probably this fall, to
examine how the expanded resources can help deliver veterans better
access to care, including a roof over their heads.
Connie Paige can be reached at
cpaige@globe.com.
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Larry Scott --
