“We’ve helped bring tens of thousands of veterans off the streets, but we’re not slowing down,” President Barack Obama said while addressing the Disabled American Veterans convention in Atlanta on August 1. “We will not stop until every veteran who fought for America has a home in America.”

The White House attributed the progress in reducing veteran homelessness to the launch of Opening Doors in 2010, the government’s first-ever strategic plan to prevent and end veteran homelessness. Another fruitful initiative has been the partnership between the HUD and Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). HUD provides rental assistance to homeless veterans while the VA offers clinical services and case management through their Supportive Housing program. Since 2010, more than 360,000 veterans and their families have received housing.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness has also contributed. She launched the nationwide campaign in 2014. Over 880 mayors, governors and other local officials were tasked with committing to the goal of ending veteran homelessness in their communities. White House officials said Houston and New Orleans managed to end chronic veteran homelessness in 2015.

Although the Obama administration originally vowed to end chronic veteran homelessness this year, it decided to extend the deadline to 2017 due to budgetary reasons. Veterans’ advocates are optimistic about the progress so far. However, there is still a long way to go when it comes to ensuring veterans nationwide are kept off the streets with permanent housing.

According to the report, female veterans are more likely to be unemployed than male veterans or non-veteran women. They are more likely to be homeless than non-veteran women. In addition, fewer resources are available to women who need basic health care, PTSD treatment or treatment for military sexual trauma.

Nearly 300,000 women served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars after 9/11. In 2014, women represented 14.5 percent of active duty service members and 18 percent of reserve members, rates which are expected to increase in the future. Currently, 10.3 percent of all veterans are women.

The study found that female veterans received only 6 percent of domiciliary homeless care for veterans and of grant and per diem programs. They received only 4.4 percent of healthcare support for homeless veterans.

For female veterans, even basic medical care can be a challenge. A third of all Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers do not employ a gynecologist.

A large proportion of women in the military experience sexual trauma — up to 20 percent of women receiving VA healthcare. However, research shows that many veterans have their military sexual trauma claims denied. Meanwhile, there is a shortage of staff trained to treat this pervasive problem.

At the same time, women also suffer from issues that are common to all veterans, such as increased rates of mental health problems and systemic difficulties in receiving much-needed services.

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

In an address to disabled veterans, President Obama announced that the backlog of disability claims was shrinking. At the Disabled American Veterans annual meeting earlier this year, Obama stated that the backlog of disability benefits claims had shrink by as much as 20 percent in the past five months. But, he conceded, a new wave of claims was coming in to the Veterans Administration. Some of those claims are from service members who served in Vietnam and are looking for care for ailments they believe stem from their decades-past exposure to Agent Orange, as well as veterans most recently returned fromIraq andAfghanistan with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and physical injuries.

“Any efforts to decrease the extensive backlog of disability claims are greatly needed and appreciated,” commented James Fausone, a veterans disability attorney. “Many of the service members who have filed disability claims have been waiting for a shockingly long time just to get their claims processed, much less disbursed.”

The White House is committed to boosting the amount of spending available for vet services to attend to their education and job prospects as well as the physical and mental health and homeless issues so many vets face, Obama said. There is also a push to better support additional hiring of vets at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and increase overtime pay to clear up the backlog of claims.

According to the VA, 64 percent of claims still pending are supplemental claims filed by vets asking for additional benefits. Though the sequestration cuts took effect in March 2013, veteran spending was exempted, allowing funding to go to decreasing the countless disability benefits currently backlogged at the VA.  Obama stated that Congress needed to work together to reduce the deficit and to keep the promises of support ad benefits to veterans.

Though World War I’s lastU.S.veteran died more than two years ago, Obama said to the 34,000 attendees, survivor benefits are still going to the descendants of the men who fought then, and in the Spanish-American War. Benefits are even going to a Civil War veteran’s daughter. Benefits will also be going to the descendants of this wave of service people.

Source

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/us/obama-assures-disabled-veterans-they-will-get-aid.html?_r=0

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800