I went to a presentation this mid-day that left me quite surprised. I live in Brevard County, Florida. We have the third largest population of homeless veterans in the country. The largest population of homeless veterans is found in San Diego, the second largest is in New York City. So, how did Brevard County ever become the third one? I have no good answer to that one.
Needless to say, most of the homeless veterans suffer from some form of traumatic disorder. In other words, whichever conflict they were in messed with their brains. There is treatment available from the local VA hospitals, but most are somewhat overwhelmed. But, here is a problem I never expected. You cannot receive that help without a permanent address. And, if you are homeless, you do not have a permanent address. So, part of the problem that local helping groups are trying to solve is how to provide a permanent address for these veterans. You see, for many good reasons, the federal government does not consider a PO Box to be a permanent address.
Interestingly enough, the helping group that I heard from had a large representation from a couple of very conservative Baptist churches. And, they had Catholics among them! Now, for those of you from other generations, you do not know what a pleasant surprise it was to see conservative Baptists involved in helping veterans in conjunction with Catholics. I pray that God will help this group reach out to our needy veterans.
I live in Seminole County and have been very active with veterans for over 25 years. I focus on PTSD but homeless veterans tug at my heart more.
What we need to understand is that churches are the last ones to acknowledge the problem or take any action in preventing veterans from becoming homeless. I traveled around to over 20 churches in the area trying to get the local clergy involved in educating their congregations on PTSD, which is a huge contributor to the homeless issue. Only one pastor responded and he happened to have been a Chaplain as well.
With the National Guards being deployed and coming in with very high rates of PTSD along with the troops, the homeless population of veterans will grow unless we all step in to help. Thank you for this post. I hope others pay attention to you.
It probably will not surprise you that I did volunteer to provide some pastoral coverage to that group.