The City Bolsters Its Effort to Shelter Homeless Veterans

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/nyregion/16vets.html?pagewanted=1

Description and Explanation

Economic Terms
1. war veteran- a former member of the armed forces
2. advocate- one that pleads the cause of another
3. subsidized- to aid or promote (as a private enterprise) with public money


There are an estimated 1,200 homeless veterans in New york City. City officials are waiting for thousands of soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the middle of a recession. Some city officials took extra steps to prevent the number of veterans sleeping on the streets from rising. This past year, New York spent $2.3 million to remodel a veterans shelter in Long Island City. Instead of having 243 cots in a large room, the shelter built two apartment buildings. The Department of Homeless Services in New York City and the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs have began to work with Project Torch, where veterans can ask for short or long term housing.
Peter H. Doherty is the director of homeless programs for the Veterans Affairs Department. He predicts that "that there would be fewer homeless veterans from this war than from Vietnam, noting, “It is a very different demographic.” The volunteer service members in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, particularly those in the National Guard, are older, more likely to be married and have attained higher levels of education — and have stronger social networks to lean on." However, advocates for homeless veterans examine the "crumbling economy and the high number of warriors with post-traumatic stress disorder and see an approaching tsunami of need. And they point out that Vietnam veterans did not appear on the streets in any large numbers until the mid-1980s, about a decade after the war ended."
Michael R. Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, made it a priority to reduce homelessness in the city. He created a task force that focuses on homeless veterans. This task force is headed by Robert V. Hess, who is a retired Army sergeant.


Prediction


Homelessness will never be solved. You can give someone temporary housing, but it does not resolve his problem. But I do think that major cities should be the first to create more shelters, counseling, and job training for homeless veterans. Also, the government should give more funding to homeless veteran shelters so that they can continue their services and reduce the number of homeless veterans.