These are services such as mental health or employment counseling that can make the difference between a homeless person finding success or failure.
Emanuel’s plan relies on making such services available to homeless veterans. These services, he notes, help them not only get a roof over their head but also “their feet underneath them so they can move on with their lives.”
That’s definitely Wade’s plan, and he credits Volunteers of America for providing the services that helped him and his family recover since that day in the park when he made a phone call in desperation and found himself in the organization’s protective embrace.
Gradually, he has recovered from what he calls his “period of instability”—brought on by emotional and physical injuries suffered in the service.
Wade is now enrolled in a heating and air conditioning program at Kennedy King Community College. He remains in the Army Reserves and supports his family with temporary benefits he receives under the post-9/11 G.I. bill. He expects to get a job, find his own place and make room at Hope Manor for the next needy vet.
“I can’t abuse this place by being here two or three or four years,” Wade told me.
If the government actually could end homelessness for a subset of the population such as veterans, then maybe that would give us some encouragement to take the next step and eliminate homelessness for, let’s say, children.
Article Appeared @http://www.suntimes.com/news/brown/30256842-452/goal-to-end-homelessness-among-vets-laudable-but-is-it-realistic.html#.VDGKPBZotdh