According to the official Veteran’s Affair website as of 2016 there are over 21.8 million U.S veterans today. Unfortunately, 50,000 veterans out of the aforementioned 21.8 million are homeless, which counts as about 8.6 percent of the homeless population. . According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV), 39,471 veterans are homeless on any given night as of 2014. The homelessness of veterans is a serious issue that many countries, especially the U.S face today. Many veterans find themselves back from the war without a home, and without the skills and services needed to get their life back in order. There are many programs and organizations already established to combat this issue and they are helping slowly but surely, but
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Approximately 12,700 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND) were homeless in 2010, which was a year where the awareness of homeless veterans was at its height, with citizens commenting on the amount of homeless veterans on the street. Many surveys of the homeless such as one’s summarized in the article “Health Care of Homeless Veterans" by Thomas P. Toole and Alicia Conde-Martel, revealed that there is a disproportionate amount of veterans among the homeless population especially homeless men, ranging from 38% to 42% in community samples. The same article also revealed that most homeless …show more content…
The “Housing First” program is an approach to ending homelessness, developed in New York City, where instead of putting the homeless into shelters, they are immediately put into permanent housing as quickly as possible with voluntary support service provided to them. The housing first allows people to easily be placed in a house despite mental illnesses which has been known to bar the people who need help the most from receiving it, “people experiencing homelessness are provided with permanent housing directly and with few to no treatment preconditions, behavioral contingencies, or barriers.” (endhomelessness.org). This has proven to help both those who are homeless due to a sudden crisis and those who are prone to chronic homelessness due to mental illness, by giving them a second chance with a home, which is just the push they need to improve their lives.
It may sound like an expensive solution, but it has also been proven to be a less costly way to end homelessness, since instead of taxpayer money being spent on medical services on the homeless who are vulnerable to sickness and injury. According to a 2006 cost study on the “The Denver Housing First Collaborative” written by, Jennifer Perlman and John Parvensky, a significant reduction in the use and cost of emergency
Approximately 12,700 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND) were homeless in 2010, which was a year where the awareness of homeless veterans was at its height, with citizens commenting on the amount of homeless veterans on the street. Many surveys of the homeless such as one’s summarized in the article “Health Care of Homeless Veterans" by Thomas P. Toole and Alicia Conde-Martel, revealed that there is a disproportionate amount of veterans among the homeless population especially homeless men, ranging from 38% to 42% in community samples. The same article also revealed that most homeless …show more content…
The “Housing First” program is an approach to ending homelessness, developed in New York City, where instead of putting the homeless into shelters, they are immediately put into permanent housing as quickly as possible with voluntary support service provided to them. The housing first allows people to easily be placed in a house despite mental illnesses which has been known to bar the people who need help the most from receiving it, “people experiencing homelessness are provided with permanent housing directly and with few to no treatment preconditions, behavioral contingencies, or barriers.” (endhomelessness.org). This has proven to help both those who are homeless due to a sudden crisis and those who are prone to chronic homelessness due to mental illness, by giving them a second chance with a home, which is just the push they need to improve their lives.
It may sound like an expensive solution, but it has also been proven to be a less costly way to end homelessness, since instead of taxpayer money being spent on medical services on the homeless who are vulnerable to sickness and injury. According to a 2006 cost study on the “The Denver Housing First Collaborative” written by, Jennifer Perlman and John Parvensky, a significant reduction in the use and cost of emergency