How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Hope may be on the horizon for more than 1,000 homeless war veterans in New York City.
As part of a $75 million federal initiative, the city will receive $9.4 million to provide long-term housing for about a thousand veterans living on the city's streets. The program, sponsored by Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supporting Housing Program and the Department of Veterans Affairs, seeks to alleviate the growing problem of veteran homelessness by placing roughly 10 thousand homeless veterans in permanent shelters nationwide.
Veteran homelessness is on the rise. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans, about a quarter of all the homeless people in America have served military duty, and that number is expected to rise in light of current military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NYU Wagner professor John Brothers, who has worked extensively with organizations for the homeless, thinks the program will not help the complicated veteran problem.
"You have to think that in less than 20 years, we have had two wars and a heavy majority of those that are on the front lines have been plucked from poor communities," he said. "We should be examining the root causes, especially in the reasons why many look to military service as a way out of impoverished situations, only to find that opportunities are scarce when they return."
The HUD-VASH initiative, which is expected to go into effect by Memorial Day, offers special vouchers to eligible veterans chosen based on need. The vouchers, administrated by the New York City Housing Authority and Department of Homeless Services, can then be used toward the rent at any privately-owned residential building in the city.
Unlike homeless shelters, which offer free housing for only a few days, this policy intends to provide consistent housing over an extended period.
Mayor Bloomberg stated that the plan was a historical move in providing housing for homeless veterans.
"It sends a powerful message to the men and women currently fighting for our country overseas - that we do not take their service for granted," he said in a statement.
But there is at least one major wrinkle in the plan - the DHS has few options to verify the eligibility of homeless veterans.
"Information on veteran status relies on self-reporting by the veterans themselves," said Eric Deutsch, deputy press secretary at the DHS, in an e-mail.
This isn't the first time a HUD-VASH initiative gave housing vouchers to veterans. From 1992 to 1994, HUD-VASH allocated 1,753 vouchers that lasted for five years but could be renewed limitlessly by city housing agencies. However, a 2007 study by the Government Accountability Office revealed that many housing agencies were not renewing the vouchers, and that by 2006 there were only about 1,000 vouchers left in the system.
At NYU, students and faculty have raised doubts about how effective the plan will be in helping veterans become self-sufficient and keeping them off the streets once the vouchers expire.
"Giving the homeless a home is only part of the process," CAS junior Sarah Jacobson said. "Unless we plan on simply supporting them for the rest of their lives, we need to do more than just that."
Silver School of Social Work junior Molly Heyman, who participates in the Citywide Homeless Street Count every year, added that along with the psychological difficulties the veterans may have while trying to find an apartment, "Rent is so increasingly expensive that this isn't a sustainable solution."
Professor Brothers agreed that there were other priorities the city should focus on.
"Housing is not the main problem," he said. "The main issue is how to only house them once and to support them always."
Vivekananda Nemana is a staff writer. E-mail him at citystate@nyunews.com.
