I suspect the VA and HUD are going to need his powers of persuasion again when 2012 comes. There's no doubt that there have been some wild claims around the GOP's budget proposal, and Democrats have done little to dispel these claims, choosing instead to try and capitalize on them (duh). Senator Barbara Boxer claimed that:
"What we Democrats are now trying to do is tell the truth about these numbers. … If you get rid of this program, this is 10,000 vouchers,10,000 veterans who literally could be in the streets and die, get very ill."According to FactCheck.org, this isn't true and the real deal is that "the funding for new housing vouchers is being suspended for a year, rather than being permanently eliminated."
Okay, hmmm. So I'm not exactly sure why this is any better, frankly, because HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, in a conversation with Congress back in 2009, stressed that The program was hampered by start-up problems, such as not having enough VA case managers to handle the demand. Donovan told Congress in a July 13, 2010 speech that HUD-VASH got off to a "bumpy start." This caused him enough concern about the program that,
"he did not request funding for it when the administration submitted its budget for fiscal year 2011 in February 2010. As he explained at a Senate hearing on May 20, 2010, the agency planned to use fiscal year 2011 to make sure the program was running "effectively and efficiently as possible" and 'will continue to asses progress being made … as we consider additional resources that might be needed for HUD-VASH.'"Anyone who has worked with the VA knows that implementation or change of anything within those halls takes about the same amount of time to accomplish as it did the earth to cool enough to support life. This is one massive bureaucracy and the ship steers like a...well, like a big damned ship.
It takes some real time for things at the top to trickle down into every unit within its system. Consider the Chaleng program as a prime example; this is a program that has been in effect since the early 90's, yet across the country, there are varying degrees of understanding of the program, as well as varying degrees of implementation of the program's mandates, within each VA.
I realize I'm comparing apples to Cadillac's here, but I'm merely trying to illustrate the point that when plans, programs, and/or projects are introduced into the VA, they don't arrive like gangbusters. Most of the time, it takes years for the information to even reach the ears of everyone in the agency.
Suspending VASH Vouchers when the potential of up to 30 percent of the 2 million plus veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan stand at least some chance of becoming homeless - and having homelessness hit them quickly, as well - is in my humble opinion a very bad idea.
What's more surprising to me about this cut is that it's being proposed by Republicans. You know, the party that claims its moral superiority in supporting our troops.
It's a sad day indeed when Republicans consider cutting the housing help to the very veterans who fought the wars initiated by Republicans. Dems aren't off the hook here, either, because these wars were strongly supported by many Democrats, as well. That these wars played a substantial role in draining scarce monetary resources from our national treasury is an irony that probably won't be lost on the vets who will as a result be relegated to our nation's underpasses and tent cities....
Drop-in shelter part of national effort to curb homelessness among veterans
FARGO – Eric Shinseki, head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, visited the front lines Friday in his effort to end homelessness among veterans when he stopped by a new drop-in center.
FARGO – Eric Shinseki, head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, visited the front lines Friday in his effort to end homelessness among veterans when he stopped by a new drop-in center. Two years ago, Shinseki, a West Point graduate and former Army general, pledged to try to end homeless among veterans in five years.
The results so far: The number of homeless veterans on any given night has dropped from 131,000 to 76,000 today, with the number projected to decline to 60,000 next year, according to VA estimates.
Shinseki toured the new Gladys Ray Veterans Drop-In Center, located at 1519 1st Ave. S. in a residential neighborhood. It allows vets to stop by for respite from the weather, take a shower, do their laundry, have access to a meal, and receive referrals to other services.
“The trend is in the right direction,” said Shinseki. He made clear that more needs to be done in preventing homelessness and rescuing homeless veterans.
He called the Gladys Ray shelter innovative in its approach to ending homelessness, and said the VA has a valuable partnership with the city of Fargo in its shared goal.
“It’s a good relationship,” Shinseki said, adding the Veterans Administration pays for services the Gladys Ray Center provides. “It’s a good program for us.
”The agency has been working to improve access to services for veterans in rural and remote areas. The VA Medical Center in Fargo, for instance, now has nine outreach clinics in North Dakota and two in western Minnesota.
Shinseki, who was joined by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., also visited the Fargo VA center.
“We have a great health care system here in Fargo,” the secretary said. Sadly, however, veterans remain at higher risk for homelessness, depression and substance abuse, he said. Combat veterans also are at high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder and soft-brain injuries.
Hoeven said it was important for Shinseki, who met earlier with American Indian veterans in Bismarck, to see first-hand the needs of veterans.
“I think it really helps him understand the needs,” Hoeven said. “We’re a country that’s at war and we need to take care of our veterans.”
