Home from America's wars, yet homeless in its suburbs

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A significant number of homeless veterans are living in the shadows in the suburbs, perpetually navigating a revolving door between shelters, temporary homes, and the street.

Home from America's wars, yet homeless in its suburbs
By Connie Paige, Globe Correspondent



BEDFORD -- John McCarthy hails from a proud military family. He was named after a great-uncle gassed by the Germans in World War I. Both his grandfather and father fought in World War II.

McCarthy himself spent six years in the Navy as a petty officer first class in a fast-attack nuclear submarine.

But recently the 46-year-old found himself homeless, with little to show for his military career.

"I'm trying to get totally back on my feet and back into the swing of things -- which is easier said than done when you're starting from scratch and have no resources," said McCarthy, when he was enrolled last month in a 40-bed shelter for homeless veterans at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford.

McCarthy is one of a significant number of homeless veterans living in the shadows in the suburbs, perpetually navigating a revolving door between shelters, temporary homes, and the street. Some veterans advocates say the ranks of homeless vets may soon be joined by a flood of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from serious health and mental health problems needing care not now available.

"Basically, we're very concerned that the condition is going to get worse," said Raymond O'Brien of Stoneham, national chairman of the Veterans of Foreign Wars' Homeless Veterans and Rehabilitation Committee and an appointee to the new Governor's Advisory Council on Veterans' Services.

O'Brien is among those attempting to address the issue now. He said the advisory council will work with the Legislature's Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs in coming months to try to ensure that a safety net is in place in time.

Federal government surveys show that one-third of adult homeless men and nearly one-quarter of all homeless adults across the country have served in the armed forces. The ratio of veterans among the homeless is the same in Massachusetts, according to research by the joint legislative committee. The Bedford center is one of only two in the state run by the federal government for veterans; the other is in Brockton. Other homeless shelters -- some exclusively for veterans, others not -- are run privately or by the state.

While the extent of the problem in area communities cannot be quantified, local officials and homeless shelter operators say homeless veterans drift in and out of their programs.

Lowell veterans agent Eric Lamarche said that since he began working there last September, he has sent about a half-dozen homeless veterans from his office to the local homeless shelter.

At the 90-bed Lowell Transitional Living Center, where clients sit outside at makeshift tables in a gritty concrete pen surrounded by chain-link fence, executive director Joseph Tucker says the facility takes in veterans from time to time. He says he cannot give firm numbers because the clients do not always identify themselves as former military.

Veterans like these become homeless for many reasons, said Deborah Outing, a spokeswoman for the Bedford veterans hospital. Many have drug- and alcohol-abuse, marital, or unemployment problems. Others suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder -- a belated reaction to combat causing anger or other behavioral problems, making it impossible to hold a job. The syndrome can take years to develop.

A report by the Department of Veterans Affairs released in 2006 shows that about half of all homeless veterans across the country suffer from mental illness; more than two-thirds from alcohol or drug abuse; and nearly 40 percent from both problems.

That squares with the experience of McCarthy, who said he had been homeless since 2003, when he and his wife separated. McCarthy said he responded by drinking heavily with buddies, also homeless veterans. Sometimes they found a bed at night, sometimes they hit the street, he said.

A 2005 veterans affairs report said Massachusetts had 1,680 homeless veterans, but only 378 beds to accommodate them, while New Hampshire had 350 homeless veterans, with only 36 beds for them. Not surprisingly, new local facilities for homeless vets in both states are seeing a flood of applicants.

Caritas Communities Inc., a private nonprofit corporation opening a facility for homeless veterans in September at the Bedford hospital, last month had 85 applicants for 60 rooms, said Mark Winkeller, executive director.

Peter Kelleher, president and chief executive officer of Harbor Homes Inc. in Nashua, said his new 40-bed facility for homeless vets was quickly filled, and last month had 50 on the waiting list. Kelleher said he is "quite certain it will continue to grow as more people return to New Hampshire from various places in the world."

Still, veterans in need sometimes refuse services. In Arlington, a homeless Vietnam veteran periodically stops by the town's veterans' services office, said director Bill McCarthy, but usually declines help. "He's a fairly intelligent guy, but he doesn't want to work," McCarthy said. "He just likes to drink his beers and hang around."

Helping such vets should fall in part to local and state officials, said state Representative Linda Dean Campbell. The Methuen Democrat, herself a veteran, is on the joint legislative committee trying to beef up the state's outreach.

Governor Deval Patrick recently signed off on $15 million in funds for homeless veterans in the budget year that started last month -- an increase of more than $700,000 from last year, said committee staffer Sarah Keller-Litkins.

She said the committee will hold hearings, probably this fall, to examine how the expanded resources can help deliver veterans better access to care, including a roof over their heads.


uhc notes:
1. 30 ~ 35% of all homeless are veterans.
2. Last November, the Department of Housing and Urban Development stated that there are, on the average, 955,000 homeless people in this country every night. One third of them will sleep on the streets, as there are not enough available beds.
3. Many, if not most of the homeless veterans have untreated PTSD.