More than 60,000 U.S. veterans are homeless, according to a federal statistic from 2012. Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio is pushing legislation to help the Department of Veterans Affairs eradicate that number by 2015. Senator Brown toured the Cleveland VAs Domiciliary. Its a housing and program facility that provides veterans with a place to live and look for work. Susan Fuehrer, Director of the Medical Center, was peppered by the Senator with questions about the operation, including how many beds are being used. We have 122 beds, and its just about always full. We got one vacant bed," Fuehrer said. Brown: How long is the average stay? Fuehrer: The average stay is about 60 days. Brown: Of the 120, how many of them typically would be getting some sort of mental health counseling, or treatment of some sort? "75 percent," an assistant tells Brown. Brown has introduced proposals that include letting the VA develop public-private partnerships in order to help vets with legal issues, boost transitional housing programs, and expand existing programs that help former soldiers find jobs. Veterans whove served since 9/11 have a 10-percent unemployment rate. We owe it to them, with mental health counseling and job training and helping them in their job search and housing them during that period when theyre struggling.
Browns proposals also include expanding services and support for women veterans. He says as most homeless vets are men, many existing facilities cant serve women and their kids.