VAntage Point
Veteran finds housing stability through White River Junction VA and partners
Helping Veterans through the pandemic is one of White River Junction VA‘s primary missions. The Vermont medical center, and partners, recently helped several Veterans access their earned benefits, including helping one find housing stability.
That one is Veteran Donald Surprenant, who served 24 years in the National Guard. In 2018, several years after leaving the Guard, Surprenant became homeless. Because he had never served in combat, he was unsure what resources were available to him through VA. To his surprise, he discovered that he was eligible for the many VA resources and programs available for Veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Tucker Carlson Tonight examines the Pentagon s war on domestic extremism
Amid a worrying rise in the number of homeless veterans, the Veterans Health Administration is seeking to hire racial diversity consultants to help transform its homeless programs into a racially equitable and just organization. Creating racially equitable systems demands that systems not simply be diverse, but that they be explicitly anti-racist, the VHA s Homeless Programs Office (HPO) said in a contract opportunity document.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development found an uptick in the number of homeless veterans in 2020 after the numbers had been declining for a decade, Military Times reported. More than 37,000 veterans did not have stable housing at the beginning of 2020.
What Are We Doing to Fix Hawai‘i’s Homeless Crisis?
The Aloha State now has the highest number of homeless per capita in the nation. What are we doing to help the individuals and families living on the streets?
April 22, 2015
In January, homeless service providers counted more than 400 people living in this encampment in Kaka‘ako, near the Children’s Discovery Center. Photo: Odeelo Dayondon
April Fuiava was working at the front desk of a Waikīkī Hotel, her husband was a day laborer and the two were making tough calls just about every day. With seven kids, money was always tight. After the rent was paid $2,000 for an apartment in ‘Ālewa Heights there wasn’t much for anything else. Buy groceries or keep the lights on. Pay the vehicle registration or fill up the cars with gas. “Some days, we wouldn’t have food,” Fuiava says. But even though things were bad, things were never that bad, and the 36-year-old never imagined she’d end up where she did h
VAntage Point
Women Veterans can get help addressing their needs through VA programs
Believe it or not, many women Veterans do not self-identify as Veterans. According to Dr. Laura Miller, psychiatrist and medical director of reproductive mental health for the Veterans Health Administration, this is due in part to the misconception that if women did not engage in combat, they are not considered Veterans.
“Some women Veterans may be unaware of their eligibility for benefits or be hesitant to approach VA for care,” said Dr. Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, investigator with VA’s National Center on Homelessness among Veterans. “But women Veterans are eligible for the same VA programs and services as male Veterans, given that they meet other eligibility requirements.”