Follow Up: Homeless Veterans In U.S. Cities

In a follow up to an article series I wrote last year, the pledge by the government leaders across all levels to end the terribly high levels of homeless military veterans achieved a milestone in the first days of 2015. The City of New Orleans is the first city in the United States to provide housing for all of their veteran population.

 

The announcement represents some good news which is welcomed to counterbalance the often distressing reports of chronic homelessness in our cities and towns. In addition, the methodology which was used by New Orleans provides a framework which is under consideration by many other cities at this point in order to address their homeless veterans and their total homeless populations.

 

In fact, some other cities such as Phoenix and Salt Lake City have also made great strides in providing housing to their homeless veteran populations. Both of those cities have effectively ended chronic long-term homelessness of veterans, which is the most difficult circumstance to resolve within the nature of this terrible societal problem.

 

Counterpoint

 

The counterpoint that is being made to this news announcement which I have to include in fair balance, is that the numbers of homeless veterans in New Orleans is much smaller than in the larger American cities of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

 

The total number of homeless veterans in New Orleans was 227 in 2014, therefore that is a much more manageable number to place into housing than in a larger city. The homeless veteran population in New York City is staggering, and the city lacks the amount of affordable housing needed to shelter this group.

 

The detractors would also point out that New Orleans could handle this scenario more effectively than other cities because of the availability of housing due to the population migration in the post-Hurricane Katrina period.

 

However, my view on the ability of New Orleans to house the homeless veterans in their city is one of optimism for the progress of this movement to gain momentum across the country. It is also my hope that this approach used in New Orleans could be modeled to provide housing to combat homelessness on a more widespread level.

 

A New Model

 

The main stumbling block in the process to end homelessness in the United States is the propensity for some of the groups involved to approach the situation in a vacuum of sorts, which hampers the overall success of the effort. A good example being that the tendency is to think that the best way to help the homeless population in a given area is through the local government.

 

However, if the local government in this example has limited resources, then the correct aid will not be accessible to effectively resolve the issues with providing housing to the homeless in that area.

 

The approach by New Orleans in effectively ending homelessness for their veteran population, provides a new model for the rest of the nation to implement in the fight to end homelessness. In New Orleans the local government, the state government, the federal government, local and regional non-profit organizations, and landlords of potential residential properties worked in a collaborative partnership to address the needs of their city with regard to homeless veterans.

 

It was by working together that they were able to provide housing for the homeless veterans in their city. The rest of the country should utilize a similar model in order to coordinate and consolidate their respective efforts to provide housing to those who are living on the streets or in shelters.

 

The City of New Orleans provides the housing for veterans with the initial rental assistance being provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The project also receives support from non-profit agencies including Catholic Charities.

 

Furthermore, New Orleans has used this same collaborative model to address and decrease their chronically homeless population from 4,579 in 2009 down to 677 in 2013. That is a huge decline in the numbers of homeless people in their city, and the goal is to eliminate homelessness by the end of 2015.

 

The solution of providing housing to the homeless is not straight forward, it is a complex situation that for many cities requires a variety of resources in order to effectively resolve. The New Orleans model essentially pools all of the various resources and respective expertise of the groups involved in order to accomplish that desired outcome.

 

The model used in New Orleans could be cumbersome initially for other cities to implement because the collaborative approach is not the usual American method of solving complex social problems. In the interests of providing an adequate resolution to the troubling trend of long-term homelessness in military veterans, the most cost effective way is to work together on every level to coordinate every step of the process.

 

In addition, this holistic approach enables each group to utilize their individual strengths and talents in a collective way to solve this issue and move military veterans, who served our country bravely in battle, off the streets and into housing they can call their own.

 

It is through this collaborative effort that American cities of all sizes can bring an end to homelessness in our veteran population. Then, once a standard protocol has been developed that spans all levels of the government and includes the non-profit organizations and residential landlords, the larger issue of the total homeless population can be addressed.

 

In my previous articles on this topic, I have detailed the reports of studies that quantify the costs of housing the homeless population in the U.S. versus keeping that same group of people in the same system we have now of shelters, the streets, and emergency room care. The cost of providing housing to the current homeless population is far more cost effective when compared to the manner in which those same people are dealt with today, living on the streets.

 

In the end if everyone works together in a truly collaborative manner, with each group contributing to the process within their own area of expertise, then the issue of homelessness in America could have a legitimate chance of resolution.

 

(Statistics, demographic information, and some background information courtesy of Yahoo! News, The Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, and New Orleans Times – Picayune)

 

 

 

 

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have been reflecting throughout the course of the day today, as our nation pauses to remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on my earliest memories of this great man. My first recollection is in learning of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington D.C. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I recall, as a young boy, being so mesmerized by his oratory presence, and thought the speech was powerful yet eloquent at the same time.

 

The next series of memories I have is of Selma and the march in that town in the Deep South and as a boy, being so profoundly moved by the resilience of the people and the movement; while at the same time being horrified by the images of police brutality and the unabashedly evil policies of the Jim Crow laws. I could not imagine a place where everything was separated for people on the basis of their skin color. I could not believe as a child, and still cannot believe it as a man, that those hateful policies could happen in America.

 

The “Freedom Riders” movement has always struck a chord with me, the bravery of those men and women to stand up for what they believed in despite the serious consequences, that type of courage is inspiring. However, at the same time, it was wrong on so many levels that our society had devolved into that situation in the first place. Dr. King said it repeatedly, that if we all treated each other as sisters and brothers, none of those terrible events would ever have had to take place, our society would never had allowed itself to be degraded into such barbaric policies and behaviors.

 

When I was older, I remember reading Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” one summer when I was home from school. I was struck with how poised and succinct his writing was during what must have been incredibly difficult conditions during his confinement in a small prison cell. I recall being drawn to his methods of nonviolence because I do not believe that violent behavior of any kind is acceptable, nor is it a capable way of resolving any dispute.

 

In the years since that summer night, I have worked in jobs where I had this day off and others where I had to work on Martin Luther King Day. In the years where I had to work, I would always listen to a recording of his famous speeches on my commute into work in the car. It was a small way in which I would pause and remember and reflect on Dr. King’s remarkable life.

 

I went to the National Civil Rights Museum with my wife one hot summer day in Memphis several years ago, and I recall feeling so many emotions at one time. I felt a profound sadness when we saw the suite where Dr. King was assassinated that April evening so many years before. I felt regret because I realized that while some things had changed in the area of race relations in America, not much had changed at all.

 

Even still today, almost fifty years after the death of Dr. King, we still have so much room to progress in race relations in our country. I am deeply saddened by the inequalities that still divide our society, our educational system, and our socio-economic structure. The events of the past six months are evidence that we have a long way to go with progressing toward a better tomorrow for all Americans.

 

I return to Dr. King and his position towards nonviolence as the best way to progress towards further advancements in these issues which still divide our society. I think we can all agree that his movement to promote peace between all races should still be the model utilized in order to make that progress today.

 

On a personal level, I was at a crossroads in my life at one point, around this time of the year, and it was in remembering the extraordinary life and remarkable courage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that I made a bold decision in my own life. I have not regretted making it ever since.

 

In the end, I hope that one day the dream of Dr. King can be realized and we can all live together in peace and harmony. It is possible, and it is by honoring and remembering Dr. King that I hope our society can move ever closer to that ultimate goal; and by revisiting the Judeo-Christian core values of our country and loving each other as sisters and brothers that it will become a reality.