An estimated 280 male veterans in Lincoln are homeless.
JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Saturday, November 17, 2007 6:00 pm
Marine Cpl. Jason Cook did two tours of duty in Iraq and returned to Nebraska after a serious head wound from a mortar.
The incident on Thanksgiving Day 2004 left him in a coma for months and with a metal plate in his head.
Things were going pretty well for Cook. But at the end of October, an unexpected incident left him homeless.
With the help of the Lincoln Veterans Affairs clinic, he found temporary housing with another veteran. But he also found out that Lincoln has a shortage of housing options for those who find themselves without a place to live.
An estimated 280 male veterans in Lincoln are homeless.
A January survey of homeless people in Lincoln showed that between July last year and June this year, a total of 1,974 people were homeless at one time or another.
A report issued this month by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, based in Washington, D.C., said Nebraska had a 67 percent increase in homeless veterans between 2005 and 2006, the highest increase in the nation. But it has much smaller numbers than many states: 770 in 2006 compared to 460 in 2005.
States like New York, Texas, California and Florida have thousands of homeless veterans.
The number nationwide who were homeless on a given night in 2006 was 195,827.
An estimated 337,000 were homeless at some time throughout the year. As many as 64,000 may be chronically homeless.
Many more are on the edge of homelessness, struggling to pay their rent or house payments.
"Vital Mission: Ending Homelessness Among Veterans" reports that one in four homeless people are veterans, even though they represent only 11 percent of the civilian adult population. This is in spite of the fact that, by and large, veterans are better educated, more likely to be employed and have a lower poverty rate than the general population.
Joe Heatherly, the VA's homeless veterans outreach coordinator, said reasons why veterans become homeless vary, just as they do for non-veterans. Those reasons include substance abuse, mental health issues, gambling addictions, lack of social support and broken family ties.
Some have untreated post-traumatic stress syndrome, which can be devastating, Heatherly said.
Most of the homeless Heatherly sees are Vietnam-era to Korean-era veterans. But some are from the more recent Gulf War and the Iraq war eras.
The Lincoln Regional Office of the Department of Veterans Affairs helps homeless veterans to find temporary shelter or a permanent home.
But some veterans complain that Nebraska is the only state that doesn't have a domiciliary, a protective environment for veterans disabled by age, illness or injury, who do not need hospital or nursing home care. It is a place to help veterans get ready to return to independent or semi-independent living, or to be able to function as best they can.
Nebraska has a gap in transitional housing, said Nancy Gregory, associate director of the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System.
She said the VA is moving toward a system of contracting with community agencies to provide that level of housing and care, rather than providing VA domiciliaries.
The VAâs Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program promotes development and provision of supportive housing and services to help homeless veterans achieve residential stability, increase their skills and income, and obtain greater self-determination.
It would be faster to find those providers than get a domiciliary in the state, Gregory said.
But two Lincoln agencies have applied for the grant, and both have been turned down, Heatherly said.
In order to be approved, agencies must provide a safe environment and meet requirements for a list of services and assistance to veterans, in addition to food service and emergency transportation.
Veteran Wilfred Marks would prefer that the state have a domiciliary.
"When you commit to war, you also have to commit yourself to helping veterans on the other side," he said.
It is important, he said, to have veterans in a place where they can be with other veterans with similar experiences, rather than spread out in programs with limited or no access to other veterans.
"Four buildings are sitting empty at the VA (campus in Lincoln)," Marks said.
Regional Veterans Affairs leaders have announced they are looking for a developer to build a new outpatient clinic on the site in exchange for a 75-year lease of the VA campus at 70th and O streets.
Gregory said much more is being done for veterans these days, and more services are available.
But Cook said a lot of veterans don't know what's available. The information is there, but a person has to take the trouble to seek it out.
Service men and women come back from combat changed to a certain degree, he said. Many of those he knows come out with an alcohol problem, whether they had one to begin with or not.
Cook, 24, joined the Marines nearly four months before Sept. 11, 2001, when he was 17. It was a tradition in his family, he said, to serve in the military.
In Iraq, he had a variety of jobs, his last being a mechanic, stationed south of Baghdad.
After treatment for his injuries, he said, he began having problems, and didnât want to come home.
He didn't want people in his hometown to know about those problems, he said. "It makes the whole family look bad."
Marines, in his view, have the highest rates of homelessness. The intensity they experience in the service continues when they get out.
Homeless veterans frequently have made the decision to stay away from their families, he said. Or as alcoholics, they may have used up all their chances and their family's good will.
In his case, he said, he had finally gotten back to leading a normal life.
"But things can change in a day. They can change in five minutes," he said. "One bad decision can make you homeless."
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.