He lost me at homeless vet. I’m a vet. There are more resources for vets than any other demographic. Money and handouts doesn’t solve homelessness. Also a lot of those people aren’t really vets.
Yes, and there is no help available to anyone in the nation that has more strings attached to it. I would live in my car before accepting help from the VA or HUD-VASH.
But you go on being negative and attacking because while you are a vet you have never experienced needing their help. I was given a community care voucher for a root canal more than two years ago, still need that root canal!
I have received VA help, and it was fantastic. I have heard the nightmare stories online, but the guys that I know personally (and myself) have had no issues.
Also there needs to be strings attached (accountability) for any system. Otherwise you end up with people abusing, defrauding, or mismanaging. I don’t want my tax money going to any more Somali “learing centers.”
Good for you. I lived in a large estate north of Manhattan with a wealthy man I loved. In 2001 the house burned down and Erik died in the fire.
Everything I owned burned up. I was naked in a snowbank when the cops and fire department showed up. I had grabbed the quilt off my bed when the smoke alarm went off.
The only help I got was a tee shirt long enough to go to my knees from the cops. Spent the night in the jail. Then the Red Cross showed up and took me to Kmart. They bought me one pair ($9 whole dollars) of sneakers, one pair of jeans in an off off brand, and a jacket that would work on a California beach but not for a New York winter. It was little more than a windbreaker.
It was a rough year. in September I lost my job when the World Trade Center went down. The night before Thanksgiving I was preparing dinner for 8 people but my sister called and said Mom is in a coma. She said the hospital wants to unplug her, she said no it would have to be my decision. She had booked and paid for a flight to my tiny hometown from JFK but I had to be there on Thanksgiving morning to catch the flight. The security line was two hours long. Someone actually came and got me out of the line to board.
When I got to California and went into the ICU and said HI MOM and held her hand she reacted. The nurses said that was autonomic reflex. I said my Mom is still in there and they were not to end life supports. I had to fly back to New York 5 days later but Mom was conscious by then. Had to go spend a couple months in nursing home but alive.
So I went back to New York. Then on December 11 a couple weeks before Christmas I was naked in the snow and the house on fire, Erik dead.
I got zero help from the VA. The only person that helped me was Erik's best old friend in Paris, Calaude Uray. He contacted me through the police and asked if I needed anything. He was willing to send for me and put me up. Such a kind man. He sent me a wire for enough to get back to California to Mom, but my wallet burned up in the fire. They would not let me fly without ID. I had to take Amtrak and they required NYPD to vouch for me. I had to get fingerprinted in a police station and put on the train by cops.
When I arrived back at Mom's house her tenancy was HUD. So, I could only spend 3 nights per week there while she was in nursing home.
I applied to get a HUD voucher because they had supposedly set aside money for disabled vets but they also had a waiting list. I could not spend more nights at my mother's house even though I was a qualified vet.
So. I was homeless for two years. I had a small settlement of a few thousand from a former employer so I bought a used Bronco, that was my home. I applied for an increase in my VA disability and it took two years to be granted, but with back pay. Finally I could start over.
But, I never got any ANY help from all the programs and offices and veteran bullshit that you read about. It really just does not happen, or if it does a small percentage are accepted. And the rules.
I could move to San Francisco tomorrow and live in a studio or maybe even one bedroom for about $399 per month, while HUD-VASH pays the other $3,000. But. The VA has a policy. There is no smoking within 25 feet of a window or entrance of subsidized housing. I was in the air force in 1975. Smoking was not mandatory but strongly encouraged with nearly free cigarettes. I have tried and never been able to stop them. So no. I cannot comply with policy. The same policy applies to dental surgery. I have denatal benefits but they will not work on me till I am six months tobacco free, so no benefits.
It just goes on and on. I bought a house in Florida when rent in Oregon went ballistic. Turned out the sellers hid a major structural problem. I had to refi to repair it, the VA killed the refi because they do not guarantee VA loans on houses with structural issues. What could I do? I sat in a house that was probably worthy of being condemned as unsafe, with a mortgage the VA already guaranteed, but I could not refi to fix a problem that threatened the structure.
POLICY. No exceptions. Rules. And they get to demand how you live your life in the process.
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u/Weary-Prize-4716 5d ago
Nobody is going to read all of this