The Military Can Take Care of Bin Laden -- Let's Take Care of Homeless Veterans

...I realized, then, why so many veterans in this country end up on our streets. In Los Angeles, 15 percent of the homeless population are veterans who have succumbed to homelessness. The street outreach workers that work for my agencies state that, of the homeless people they see, 20 percent are veterans. That means the men and women who fought in our wars are overrepresented on our streets.

 

The stories I hear from outreach workers are heartbreaking. They see homeless encampments along the Los Angeles drainage system, up in the hills of Hollywood, and near the beach. They see encampments filled with all homeless veterans, hidden deep into the crevices of Los Angeles, off the grid. They are afraid to access veterans services and feel more comfortable hidden from society.

This is such a national disgrace. We throw teenagers and twenty-year-olds onto the front lines of battle, some for more than a handful of tours of duty, and they return to our country emotionally scarred for life.

Rather than being "The Few", homeless vets are "The Many." Rather than being "The Proud", many hurting veterans on our streets are sadly the "The Broken."...