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Burr Amendment to Combat Veterans
Homelessness WASHINGTON, D.C. - Last night, the United States Senate passed an amendment sponsored by Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to provide an additional $750,000 for services for homeless veterans. This amendment, which was agreed to unanimously, will provide funding for housing assistance and supportive services for veterans suffering from homelessness. "Our veterans served our country with honor and they should not be forgotten when they return home," Burr said. "Helping homeless veterans get off the street and back on their feet is our obligation, and this funding is an important step in that direction. Also, since the funding is offset, it will not add to our federal deficit." The funding allocated by this amendment will benefit the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Homeless Provider Grant and Per Diem program and VA's Supportive Services Grants program. This money will go to help more than 131,000 veterans who are homeless on any given night including the estimated 1,659 homeless veterans in North Carolina. Last year, Senator Burr authored the Services for Ending Long-Term Homelessness Act, a bill that authorized grants to address the issue of preventing veteran homelessness. This legislation was signed into law last year as part of the Veterans' Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008. Under the Burr legislation, VA can make grants to provide supportive services that will keep low-income veterans, who are at risk of becoming homeless, in permanent housing. Did you know… Although accurate numbers are impossible to come by, the VA estimates that 131,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. And approximately twice that many experience homelessness over the course of a year. Conservatively, one out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served this country. In addition to a complex set of factors affecting all homelessness, such as an extreme shortage of affordable housing, livable income and access to health care, a large number of displaced and at-risk veterans live with the lingering effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and substance abuse, compounded by a lack of family and social support networks. |
The most effective programs for homeless and at-risk veterans are community-based, nonprofit, "veterans helping veterans" groups. The ones that work best feature transitional housing providing the camaraderie of living in structured, substance-free environments with fellow veterans who are succeeding at bettering themselves. 23% of
homeless population are veterans Source: National Coalition for Homeless Veterans www.nchv.org Editor’s Note… I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Unfortunately, I am deploying mid-month and will be away from home over the holidays. It is never fun, being away from home, but it is worse this time of year. I would also like to use this forum to express my Christmas wish for our chapter, and that is for the chapter to come together as a team and focus on our mission, the reason Rolling Thunder® exists. You and I know that many Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines have yet to make it home from the battlefields. Sadly, there are many Americans today who do not know this or refuse to think about it. That’s wrong. You have read our mission statement before. You know what our purpose is. Theoretically, each of you joined Rolling Thunder® because you felt it is important to keep the POW-MIA issue alive and in the public’s eye and you want to help our veterans in need. So I truly hope it is with a renewed sense of pride and purpose that RTNC1 goes into 2010 to do just that, and ensure that no one ever forgets our nation’s veterans – those with us today, those who have passed on, and those whose fate remains unknown. We will do it in many ways; riding our bikes in a parade, handing out coffee at a rest stop, visiting our friends at the Veterans nursing home, or honoring our MIAs at Freedom Memorial Park. How is not important – doing it is. |
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