Homelessness is a major problem that military veterans often face during life after service. In fact, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that 49,933 veterans are homeless in the U.S. on any given night.
Most of these retired servicemembers do not receive the support they need to overcome homelessness, as Veterans Affairs can only manage to take care of approximately 150,000 of these veterans a year. To change this, three Cabinet members visited Tucson, Arizona, to establish strategies to end homelessness for military veterans.
Cabinet members work to end veteran homelessness
According to the Tucson Sentinel, the secretaries of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Labor, Robert McDonald, Julian Castro and Thomas Perez, traveled to Tucson to meet with local veterans who had been homeless upon returning from service. Tucson in particular has had a lot of success with fighting the issues of veteran homelessness.
The three Cabinet members also connected with Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild. The group discussed the importance of serving military veterans who have spent years sacrificing their lives to serve their country.
"By adopting policies like Housing First, by championing the kind of collaboration that this employment center is right at the heart of, they are making the end of veteran homelessness something that is within reach," Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro told Tucson News Now.
At the Pima County Employment Center, the secretaries heard from local veterans who discussed some of the most significant challenges after deployment, some of which were the greatest obstacles they have ever had to face in their lives. However, many have gone on to become college graduates and start full-time jobs, thanks to the support of their city.
What are the biggest obstacles?
To help retired servicemembers begin making money, the first step is preparing them for the job hunting process. Art Burrola, the program coordinator at Kino Veteran's Work Center, explained to Tucson News Now that job training and placement is the biggest obstacle the center faces.
The Kino Veteran's Work Center's large funding program, which the city relied on to help find veterans jobs, dried up a few months ago, making the process even more challenging. The program was responsible for providing around $8 million for local employment and training.
Success stories
Tucson News Now noted that Brenda Hunter was one of the many veterans who benefited from the program's funding. She was in the Marine Corps for over four years. While serving, her home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She found herself in Tucson, where she remained homeless until she located the veteran services program at Kino.
"I graduated from Pima recently with an associate degree in science in computer network. Without these services, I probably would have ended up dead," she said.
Another success story is Cliff Wade, who ended up spending time in prison after retirement, according to the news source. However, the program saved him, pushing him to get an education and join the fight to help his fellow homeless veterans with Old Pueblo Community Services. Although there are plenty of people working to improve the lives for homeless veterans, Wade pointed out that it is still a work in progress.
"It's not an overnight fix, we don't have enough housing, of course we can work to get more. Funding is key, case management is key. Homeless into housing, majority can't do it without case management," Wade explained to Tucson News Now.
After hearing these stories, the secretaries traveled to Las Vegas to continue their quest to learn more about the issue of veteran homelessness and how to solve it.