American
military veterans who have returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are
homeless in “almost unimaginable numbers,” says Gordon Duff, senior editor at
Veterans Today.
American
veterans are returning to the United States “where our economy is in total
shambles, where we have massive unemployment in the non-veteran work force,” he
in a phone interview on Saturday.
“Despite our
lowered unemployment figures, a large percentage of those are people that are no
longer even bothering to look for work because there is no work in the U.S.,” he
added.
The number of
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are homeless or at risk of losing a roof over
their heads has more than doubled in the past two years, according to government
data.
Through the end
of September, 26,531 of the veterans were living on the streets, at risk of
losing their homes, staying in temporary housing or receiving federal vouchers
to pay rent, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reports. That's up from
10,500 in 2010. The VA says the numbers could be higher because they include
only the homeless the department is aware of.
AHT/ARA
No comments:
Post a Comment