Apr 16, 2013 5 min read

Notice: Undefined offset: 0 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/includes/single/strategically_placed_photos_article.php on line 412

Notice: Trying to get property 'term_id' of non-object in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/includes/single/strategically_placed_photos_article.php on line 412

For homeless U.S. military veterans who have fought on foreign soil, the battle hasn’t ended.

While some soldiers are able to adjust when they return, others aren’t as fortunate.

Many veterans develop drug and alcohol addiction and mental health issues like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of trauma they experienced while serving.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development released its 2012 assessment on homelessness, which concluded that more than 62,000 veterans are homeless on any given night.

That’s a disgrace, says Michele Margittai, director of development and marketing for Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania, a nonprofit agency that provides human services for veterans and their families.

“We should all be ashamed,” said Margittai. “We have a responsibility for all communities to reach out to our veterans and help them transition back. It’s our time to be of service to them.”

Based on the HUD report, Veterans Leadership Program estimates there are about 200 homeless veterans in Washington County.

Among them is Paul Nemenz, a Vietnam War veteran.

“Veterans are the most forgotten and neglected group, not only in Washington, Pa., but in the United States,” said Nemenz. “We were willing to give our all, to separate ourselves from our families and go to foreign lands and do what we were told and what we believed was the right thing. And we got no support when we came back.”

In 2009, President Barack Obama and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki announced a goal to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015.

Since that time, the number of veterans who are homeless has dropped by 17.2 percent. The decline is significant, but much work remains, Margittai acknowledged.

There are few services designed specifically for homeless veterans in Washington County; instead, they are referred to the Pittsburgh Department of Veterans Affairs and the Veterans Leadership Program. In 2012, the Washington City Mission served 75 homeless vets – a number that has more than doubled in the past four years – and is currently housing as many as 15 veterans, according to Dean Gartland, the mission’s president and chief executive officer.

The mission is in the early stages of opening a 16-bed shelter for homeless veterans in a duplex adjacent to its administration office in Washington.

“We’re committed to helping our veterans. We believe we could do a better job for our veterans if we had a facility. We think they deserve our best, and creating a program specific to veterans is a way to do that,” said Gartland.

The Veterans Leadership Program, a top-rated nonprofit organization in 2012, serves veterans through housing and employment programs.

The VLP assists older veterans from the Korean and Vietnam wars, but Jesse Rodriguez, director of operations for the program, said there has been a spike in the number of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with families.

“I can tell you that at the VLP we have a steady stream of need for the homeless and near homeless. We have a high demand,” Rodriguez said, noting that recently, four homeless veterans and their families came into the office in one day.

A grant from the VA has enabled the VLP to send an outreach specialist into the 14-county region, including Washington, and the United Way partners with the organization.

Rodriguez described how VLP helped a Washington County veteran (his name was not disclosed) and his family, who were given a month’s notice to move after their apartment was sold in November. The soldier had recently lost his job and had just started a new one, leaving the family short of funds.

The VLP helped the veteran and his family get into the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program (SSVF), which helped the family pay the security deposit and the first two months’ rent in a new three-bedroom home. The VLP also provided Christmas gifts and other support.

Margittai and Gartland agree that the problem of homeless veterans is going to increase. According to the latest projections, more than a million service members are going to be released from the military by 2016. Sixty percent of those veterans will be between the ages of 25 and 34, and only 5 percent of those have bachelor’s degrees.

Pennsylvania, which has the fourth-highest concentration of military veterans in the country (Pittsburgh was named by Forbes Magazine in 2012 as the best place to live for veterans), will feel the impact of what Margittai calls a “tsunami” of military servicemen and women returning to the area.

“These men and women are amazing. Only 1 percent of people volunteer to serve in our military; we don’t have a draft. They’ve stepped up, and when they come home, we hear about the shootings and the PTSD, and yes, it’s an issue, but they have so much to offer, and we owe them that. We shouldn’t have homeless veterans.”

Editor’s note: The Washington County United Way, which has partnered with the Veterans Leadership Program, participates in PA 2-1-1 Southwest, which connects people in need with resources. A veteran can call 2-1-1, and the United Way will direct the veteran to VLP. 2-1-1 is free and is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Veterans Leadership Program – which is available to all military veterans, not only those who served in battle – can be reached at 412-481-8200 or at www.neverforgetvets.org/. To contact Washington City Mission, call 724-222-8530.