Veterans Day Headlines: 1,400+ Philly Vets Without Homes

Rendering of the Hardy Williams Veterans Center.

Next City has a piece this morning that’s required reading on this Veterans Day, particularly for those in the Philadelphia area, where more than 1,400 vets are homeless. The article’s authors, Debbie Burkart and Ali Solis, ask this very important question:

If Veterans Day is about honoring the men and women who have bravely served our country, why is it that tens of thousands of them are left to trudge from shelters to street corners with no place to call home?

The lack of affordable housing in Philadelphia overall is a problem, but it seems even more egregious given the factors that drive the problem for vets:

Veterans suffer from disproportionately high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse and other crippling health conditions. Those without family and social support networks often find it difficult to hold a job and pay the rent.

See the world! Learn skills! Nab a crippling health condition that’ll leave you homeless!

But there is hope. Burkart and Solis take a look at potential solutions, noting the successful development of the Hardy Williams Veterans Center in Southwest Philadelphia.

Tens of Thousands of Veterans Have No Place to Call Home [Next City]

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