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Forum Post: GAO: Homelessness rising among female vets

Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 24, 2012, 9:51 a.m. EST by GirlFriday (17435)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

http://militarytimes.com/news/2012/01/military-homeless-female-veterans-GAO-022312w/

Citing “limited” data from the Veterans Affairs Department, the Government Accountability Office issued a report Monday suggesting that the number of homeless female veterans rose to more than 3,300 in 2010, up from less than 1,400 in 2006.

The data is flawed because no government agencies consistently track homelessness among female veterans, which raises questions about the VA’s ability to help those women.

17 Comments

17 Comments


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[-] 2 points by JPB950 (2254) 12 years ago

Is there a solution to the growing problem? Would something like a decompression time be advisable, for service people deemed at risk of PTSD? Where the soon to be discharged service person is stationed in the US away from the stress of being in or near a combat zone. One last tour of duty where you push papers, talk to new recruits, share experiences with others and a professional. Essentially get war out of your mind and get back to being a civilian.

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

Completely unacceptable. Why are we paying contractors enough so their kids will never have to work while the real soldiers go without. I wish Occupy had more of a stance with regard to military contractors and how they rape our system.

[-] 1 points by kingscrossection (1203) 12 years ago

If they wanted help don't all the have to do is provide the correct information at the VA?

[+] -6 points by GirlFriday (17435) 12 years ago

They don't track the information. :/

[-] 1 points by kingscrossection (1203) 12 years ago

What do you mean?

[+] -7 points by GirlFriday (17435) 12 years ago

Apparently, they don't have an app for that.

My understanding is thus, we all know that homelessness is tracked point in time. Meaning that in January people hit the streets for one night a year and document as many homeless people as they can. It usually lasts about 8-10 hours. That is for all homelessness.

then there is the following: How many homeless veterans are there?

Accurate numbers community-by-community are not available. Some communities do annual counts; others do an estimate based on a variety of factors. Contact the closest VA medical center's homeless coordinator, the office of your mayor, or another presiding official to get local information. http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm

There probably is no central database kept. As there are multiple service providers in the mix. How they collect data and what information they keep may be different from provider to provider and/or by state.

[-] 1 points by kingscrossection (1203) 12 years ago

Shit they don't? That's interesting. Sad to hear about. I don't know what my father would do without the VA.

[+] -7 points by GirlFriday (17435) 12 years ago

It gets worse.

We have certain social issues that are addressed by for profits or non- profits where we want to know information based on outcomes. Let's take a drug rehab program for instance. They may only track for three months and claim some kind of best practice or success.

So, why is there funding for programs that are not measuring beyond the three months or even 6 months after? How the hell can we as a people move forward with not just identifying but creating or providing those extra services that may not have ever existed but are essential to the outcome.

[+] -5 points by ZenDogTroll (13032) from South Burlington, VT 12 years ago

I just sent Senator Sanders a note on this issue, as a result of this post. He is a staunch advocate of Veterans issues.

Link To the Senator

Thanks

[-] -2 points by trailerParkTim (-13) 12 years ago

Obama has lost more jobs than any president in US history. So now the returning vets that were supposed to come home to "Hope & Change" are instead returning home to "Poverty & Despair" Thanks Obama http://www.politicaljack.com/forums/showthread.php?6295-Obama-has-lost-more-jobs-than-any-president-in-US-history.....

[-] 1 points by ineptcongress (648) 12 years ago

but GW bush set in motion the policies that led to the events that caused the job losses.

[-] -1 points by trailerParkTim (-13) 12 years ago

Typical liberal idiot, after all this time Bush is still to blame

[-] 1 points by ineptcongress (648) 12 years ago

3 years is a very short time to get the titanic off the iceberg it was run into. surely you must concede that bush's tenure did tremendous and probably permanent damage to the country; in history i believe he will be considered the worst president ever. clinton's administration was only half as damaging. each admin. inherits from their predecessor. don't be juvenile, my politics (and probably yours) is far too sophisticated for a label. besides "liberal" is so diluted in its understanding as to mean nothing and everything at the same time.

[-] 0 points by trailerParkTim (-13) 12 years ago

I myself am no fan of Bush either but Obama has done nothing to try and steer our Country in the right direction again. At first when he got elected I thought he would bring about change, but that never happened. Mitt, Newt and the other bozos are also usless. There is only one thing to say about our Country and that is "It's in serious trouble"

[-] 1 points by ineptcongress (648) 12 years ago

we are on the exact same page. i hate re-electing obama, but it just feels like he'd do the least damage. i think mitt and newt would try some radical half-baked ideas for the fame of it (to say they they did something) and it would make things worse. every credit expansion like the one we've undergone is met by painful havoc wreaking contraction. the fed had a big role in the failure... they're supposed to smooth the business cycle, but instead they've made them more pronounced, bigger and more frequent ups and downs.

[+] -7 points by GirlFriday (17435) 12 years ago

Many of the jobs lost under Obama — more than 600,000, to be exact — are public sector jobs, the type Romney considers outside “the real economy.” And while he touts his own business success, Romney has promised to slash even more public sector jobs, doing to government employees what his former company has done to thousands of workers. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/12/26/395243/romney-falsely-claims-obama-has-not-created-any-new-jobs/

Don't tell me that you all of a sudden give a damn for public sector jobs, asswipe. Thanks.

[-] 0 points by trailerParkTim (-13) 12 years ago

Any position whether it was public sector or Gov, if they have a union then can all of them and hire them or new ones without a union. Obummer and his union cronies are destroying us but hey, that is what you liberals want anyways.