I don’t even know where to start. I am not sure if I should cry or scream. Over the past several months I have seen several states. Some had the housing market demolished to poverty.
When I say this what I mean is I saw houses that were in such bad shape that they weren't even worth the nails to tear them down.
It never occurred to me to ask what the housing condition for the Veterans that were coming home was. I never thought that the US Government would just dump them on the streets with no job, no home, no support, and abandon them and their families that also made the sacrifice for them to go out and protect our families and homes.
As I often do, I was sitting here on the phone dialing for dollars to help get projects funded for job generation when a call came in. The call came from a 501(c)3, which is a non-profit.
This call came from the area I had just visited and my home town. The request was so small that it almost seemed to be crazy. They were asking for $30 a month per Vet to make payroll.
The woman said to me that they have 6,000 new Vets living in a homeless shelter and that the Vets had to pay $30 a month to live there and the Vets can’t find work.
She went on to say that these Vets didn’t need much training and that she had some of them working the concession stands at the games and was getting them paid $30 for the day so they could pay their shelter fee to stay indoors for the month.
She went on to tell me that the Veterans Administration had been over burdened with the massive influx if Vets and couldn’t help. I had already knew that the VA was over extended. I just didn't know how bad it was.
So in a effort to ensure that I wasn't crazy, I Googled it of course. Guess what I found, Ohio wasn't the only state.
Georgia had the same problem. http://j.mp/qbo3ga
This lady had called me about project funding and she was just calling about 3 cities in her state. So I slept on it last night.
Today I am a little perturbed with the situation. That is putting it lightly. So could someone explain to me why these Men and Women put their lives on the line for our Blanket of Freedom and they are living in a Homeless Shelter and some of them have their families there too.
Why is this country turning their backs on these Soldiers. They gave the most sacred sacrifice a human being can give, their lives.
How dare we turn a blind eye, deaf ear, or cold shoulder to them. The Senators, Congressmen, House of Representatives, and the President spend more that $180,000 a week on lunch.
Everyone is screaming about the budget in DC. Everyone is screaming about the housing downturn and abandoned homes throughout the US. I stood on a street where more than 60% of the homes were condemned.
Why aren’t the land banks giving the properties to the Vets? Did you know a Vet can’t get their benefits if they are homeless? They can get Welfare but not their VA Benefits.
We are all responsible for this mess. Each day we let this sit on the back burner, each day the problem multiplies. The amount of money that each of us spend at the mall on lunch could pay for a Vet to live in a homeless shelter for a month.
Now I am not saying that I want them in homeless shelters. But don’t you think that we owe them more than that?
Would you let your grandparents or mom and dad live that way? Would you rather learn another language and hand over this country to some other country because you didn’t help the guys that gave you the Blanket of Freedom that you sleep under every night.
It’s Game Time and you got the ball. What play are you going to make? Are you going to sit on the sidelines or are you going to get in the game.
We are all responsible for this. You are accountable. I am accountable. I have had enough. That is it!
Here is what we can do:
1. Get local land banks to waive the fees and hand those empty properties over to these Vets so they can get out of the shelters.
2. Let them fix them and let them use their benefits to do it.
3. Let the Vets use their VA Loans for small businesses to create their own jobs.
4. Give the Vet the same Freebie Support we give every Non-US Citizen that crawls over the boarder first.
5. Stop out sourcing Government Contract overseas and give Vet First dibs on Government Contract.
If you are with the Economic and Business Development Departments or with the Land Bank please call me. I need your help.
Jean Meadows
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