Housing For Veterans

“A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life. Regardless of personal political views, that is an honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact.”

Data indicates that it takes years for the trauma associated with military combat to appear, hence the name post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After the Vietnam War it took nine to twelve years before veterans began showing up at homeless shelters in large numbers. It’s unfortunate that ANY veteran who we reposed special trust and confidence in would someday find themselves living on the street at ANY point in their life.

We are now ten years into the Afghanistan War and eight years into the Iraq War. Since at least 15 percent of the nearly 1 million vets from both wars met the screening criteria for PTSD, as a nation we must prepare for a surge in their homelessness numbers. (1) Therefore, to show my gratitude for those veterans who signed that blank check, I would use the $150,000 just acquired to purchase a distressed property and address the problem of homelessness among our military veterans.

Veteran homelessness must be attacked at multiple levels in order to ensure that it does not turn into a revolving door. So beyond simply providing temporary housing support we will also have to improve our veteran’s lives for the long-term. This entails treatment for their PTSD by providing them with access to health and wellness clinics, recovery resources, peer support groups, and individual counseling. (Note: Key information from HYPERLINK "http://www.voail.org" http://www.voail.org). Once our veterans are able to...

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...our NFP can leverage the recently acquired $150,000 and turn it into $1,000,000, in capital funds, $144,100 in In-kind donations from partnerships, and nearly $710,000 in Per Diem that supports our annual operations for Veterans programs, which will enable them to win the “war at home” and achieve their full potential in all areas of their life. As a result, accomplishing this mission proves to provide a maximum ROI from both a financial and personal standpoint.

Works Cited

1. Marks, Alexandra, “Back form Iraq – and suddenly out on the streets” The Christian Science Monitor on the Web 8 Feb. 2005 < HYPERLINK "http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0208/p02s01-ussc.html" http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0208/p02s01-ussc.html>

2. United State Department of Veteran’s Affairs. October 5, 2011. Grant and Per Diem Program. November 8, 2011. .