SOURCES: Operation Stand Down and National Alliance To End Homelessness
United States Homeless veterans include a significant growing number from current wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Many suffer from severe post traumatic stress disorder and severe
sleep deprivation; often those who have never suffered from PTSD and the inability to sleep
are unaware of how big of a toll such a problem has, in preventing those who do from being
able to hold down a steady job and function well on a regular basis.
Many veterans have lost civilian jobs due to extended tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere
and upon returning home, find it very difficult to support themselves and their
families. Many veterans who are not currently homeless are in danger of becoming so.
In 2006, approximately 196,000 veterans were homeless on any given night, up from an estimated
194,000 in 2005. Estimates of total number of veterans who are homeless are about half a
million; this figure does not include their spouses and children, who may also be homeless or
severely impoverished. An additional nearly half a million veterans pay more than
50% of their income to cover rent.
In the United States, 26% of the homeless population are veterans, while they represent only
11% of the adult civilian population. In Tennessee alone, there were approximately 2800
veterans homeless on any given night in 2006. According to Operation Stand Down Nashville,
while factors such as lack of income, physical health, physical disability, mental health and
trauma and substance abuse all contribute to veteran homelessness, the primary reason veterans
are homeless is lack of affordable housing.
Regardless of religious, political or other persuasion, there is no excuse for the citizens of
the United States and Tennessee, to allow even one veteran or one veteran's spouse or child to
be homeless. Americans who sit idly by and make no attempt to address and alleviate the
problems of poverty in general and, the plight of homeless veterans in particular, demonstrate a
severe lack of patriotism, historical and moral understanding and, a severe lack of personal
responsibility, respect and dignity.
Do Americans who ignore the plight of homeless veterans really support the troops? Why
are there homeless veterans in America? You decide.
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