VA issues key report to Congress on Homeless Vets

These statistics are staggering, but who will take action? Guard and Reserve suicides are double the 2009 rate, but who will take action?  We must rally behind our Veterans and their families NOW. If you can participate in just one Vet charity, one family support event, or donate to a worthy charity like the Liberty USO, the impact will be real. Please consider doing what you can. God Bless our Service Members, their families, and our displaced or under-served Vet population.
Sam

    On a single night in January 2009, 75,609 veterans were homeless; 57 percent were staying in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program; and the remaining 43 percent were living on the street, in an abandoned building, or another place not meant for human habitation (i.e., unsheltered).
    Veterans are overrepresented among the homeless population. At a point in time in 2009, approximately 12 percent of all people (and 16 percent of adults) experiencing homelessness identified as a veteran, as did 10 percent of those homeless over the course of a year. Less than 8 percent of the total U.S. population has veteran status.
    An estimated 136,334 veterans spent at least one night in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program between October 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009. This accounts for 1 of every 168 veterans in the U.S. or 1 out of every 10 veterans living in poverty.
    Just over 96 percent of sheltered veterans were individuals, and just less than 4 percent were veterans who were a part of a family.
    While homeless veterans make up less than 1 percent of all veterans, within the poverty population veterans are at greater risk of homelessness than non-veterans. Ten percent of veterans in poverty became homeless at some point during the year, compared to just over 5 percent of adults in poverty.

http://www.military.com/veterans-report/va-issues-homelessness-report?ESRC=vr.nl