For 15 years, he was a nomad wandering the streets of his native New York before he got help from Pathways to Housing, a nonprofit organization. O'Boyle spent two of his homeless years underground, riding the trains of the city's subway system. "I had nothing to do, so I rode the trains. I got to know the whole subway system like the back of my hand," O'Boyle said. "The E train used to end...]]> A friend of mine passed along this article about our nation’s homeless veterans and an organization called Pathways to Housing which has been helping to provide housing options and treatment to homeless veterans. John O’Boyle, a Navy veteran, was homeless until just recently:

For 15 years, he was a nomad wandering the streets of his native New York before he got help from Pathways to Housing, a nonprofit organization.

O’Boyle spent two of his homeless years underground, riding the trains of the city’s subway system.

“I had nothing to do, so I rode the trains. I got to know the whole subway system like the back of my hand,” O’Boyle said. “The E train used to end at the World Trade Center. That was the best train to ride in the winter, you know; it didn’t go out into the open.”

O’Boyle was just one of about 154,000 veterans who call the streets home. Some find help through the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has approved funding for about 15,000 beds this year in transitional housing programs and provides approximately 5,000 veterans each year with residential services in VA hospital-based programs.

This leaves up to 134,000 veterans to fend for themselves. Private and nonprofit organizations, including New York-based Pathways to Housing, step in where the VA leaves off.

Psychologist Sam Tsemberis, Pathways’ founder and executive director, acknowledges the work the VA does but says nongovernmental organizations are essential to “take up the slack.” He estimates that veterans make up 20 percent of his clients, or about 125 of the 650 people the organization is currently housing, which reflects the national average of homeless veterans to nonveteran homeless.

“People who were mentally ill, living on the streets of the city in an intolerable unbearable condition” prompted Tsemberis to start Pathways.

The Pathways to Housing model is called “housing first.” The approach makes housing a top priority, even in treating homeless who have psychiatric disabilities and addiction. More traditional organizations require a person to be sober and stable before giving them their own place to live. This usually requires an uphill battle of up to two years of living in a shelter and meeting a number of requirements.

We need to keep our promise to our nation’s veterans. The government, and all of us as taxpayers, have a moral obligation to the men and women who have served this country. It is fashionable for politicians to champion veterans’ issues, but there has been far too little action on this front. There should not be 154,000 homeless veterans in the United States. I hope President-elect Obama and the new Congress take immediate steps to remedy this problem. It is hard to believe that with all the free handouts our government dispenses on an annual basis those most deserving of our support are neglected. Remember to thank a veteran. Freedom isn’t free. They fought for you.

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