Monterey, CA Homeless Veterans Being Aided By The Federal Government In Partnership With Cities
by Richard Kuehn on 01/17/14
View From A Non-Profit Serving Carmel,
Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific
Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California
Homelessness
in Monterey County has become a big problem and county officials have been
struggling with how to resolve this issue amidst a tight budget. Homeless veterans have become a very
difficult issue to deal with. They've
served their country but have come back to a recession ravaged United States
where it is very difficult to find a job.
I want to congratulate Phoenix, Arizona which the White House announced
this week is the first county in the
nation to end homelessness among veterans with long or recurrent histories of
living on the streets. There were 222 of
these people (dubbed chronically homeless veterans by the government) in Phoenix
in 2011, most of them men with some type of physical or mental ailment. The city has worked hard to partner with
great nonprofits like the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness, and I hope
Monterey can look at this program as a great model for solving a very tough
problem. The city can take advantage of
the federal government's plan to end homelessness among veterans by 2015 and
all people by 2020. The program is
ambitious and behind schedule but even if they reach half of that number it
would be a huge transformational program.
Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands To Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.
