Study: 1 out of 4 homeless are veterans

Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press: Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.

The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness, a public education nonprofit, based the findings of its report on numbers from Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau. 2005 data estimated that 194,254 homeless people out of 744,313 on any given night were veterans. (More)

John Aravosis (DC), AmericaBlog.com: And what exactly is George Bush doing about this? Nothing. Bush and the Republicans only "support" the troops when it means sending them to die in a poorly-planned and poorly-equipped mission. If they survive, not so much.

Yet Another Alarm Sounded on Homeless Vets and PTSD. But, Who's Listening?, Jon Soltz, HuffingtonPost.com: How many times do we need to hear an alarm? Once again, major studies are finding a swiftly growing number of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and a coming tsunami. One out of four homeless are veterans, and though there hasn't been a very comprehensive study of just Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the VA estimates at least 1500 homeless veterans of the current wars. I'll bet you everything I got that the number is significantly higher.

Failing to Serve America's Heroes on the Home Front, Brian Ross & Rhonda Schwartz, ABC News Blotter: In the last two years, generous Americans answering appeals to help wounded and paralyzed veterans have given more than $464 million to charities that have been given an F in a new report card from a leading charity watchdog group. Those failing charities include the National Veterans Services Fund, of Darien, Conn., which took in more than $6 million in contributions last year supposedly to help veterans' families. It got a report grade of F from the American Institute of Philanthropy, which says the charity gave out only two percent of its money for charity. (Read the full report.)