SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Over 40,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Photo: Joseph C. Topping/flickr/cc)
Memorial Day - 7 Facts Documenting Our Neglect of Millions of Veterans
Politicians who preach patriotism would do well to address these issues
May 28, 2018
While flags fly and politicians preach patriotism, millions of our veterans remain neglected. Here are seven examples.
20. Twenty veterans die by suicide each day. In fact, the risk for suicide is 22 percent higher among veterans than the non-veteran population according to the Veterans Administration.
24. Twenty four percent of all veterans, about 4.9 million people, have a service connected disability. Hundreds of thousands more are trying to appeal denials of disability benefits.
40,065. Over 40,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Only three in five homeless veterans are staying in emergency shelters or transitional housing. Over 15,000 homeless veterans were staying in places not suitable for human habitation.
318,000. The Veterans Administration estimated there are over 318,000 appeals of veteran benefits pending nationwide with an average wait time for appeals of 935 days.
370,000. Over 370,000 veterans are unemployed according to the US Department of Labor. Unemployment is higher for younger veterans between the ages of 22 and 34 than civilians.
1,465,807. The Census Bureau reports that 1,465,807 veterans live under the official U.S. poverty line.
1,500,000. Almost 1.5 million veterans live in households with low enough incomes that they receive benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamps).
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Bill Quigley
Bill Quigley is Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He is a Katrina survivor and has been active in human rights in Haiti for years. He volunteers with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau de Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Port au Prince.
While flags fly and politicians preach patriotism, millions of our veterans remain neglected. Here are seven examples.
20. Twenty veterans die by suicide each day. In fact, the risk for suicide is 22 percent higher among veterans than the non-veteran population according to the Veterans Administration.
24. Twenty four percent of all veterans, about 4.9 million people, have a service connected disability. Hundreds of thousands more are trying to appeal denials of disability benefits.
40,065. Over 40,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Only three in five homeless veterans are staying in emergency shelters or transitional housing. Over 15,000 homeless veterans were staying in places not suitable for human habitation.
318,000. The Veterans Administration estimated there are over 318,000 appeals of veteran benefits pending nationwide with an average wait time for appeals of 935 days.
370,000. Over 370,000 veterans are unemployed according to the US Department of Labor. Unemployment is higher for younger veterans between the ages of 22 and 34 than civilians.
1,465,807. The Census Bureau reports that 1,465,807 veterans live under the official U.S. poverty line.
1,500,000. Almost 1.5 million veterans live in households with low enough incomes that they receive benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamps).
Bill Quigley
Bill Quigley is Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He is a Katrina survivor and has been active in human rights in Haiti for years. He volunteers with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau de Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Port au Prince.
While flags fly and politicians preach patriotism, millions of our veterans remain neglected. Here are seven examples.
20. Twenty veterans die by suicide each day. In fact, the risk for suicide is 22 percent higher among veterans than the non-veteran population according to the Veterans Administration.
24. Twenty four percent of all veterans, about 4.9 million people, have a service connected disability. Hundreds of thousands more are trying to appeal denials of disability benefits.
40,065. Over 40,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Only three in five homeless veterans are staying in emergency shelters or transitional housing. Over 15,000 homeless veterans were staying in places not suitable for human habitation.
318,000. The Veterans Administration estimated there are over 318,000 appeals of veteran benefits pending nationwide with an average wait time for appeals of 935 days.
370,000. Over 370,000 veterans are unemployed according to the US Department of Labor. Unemployment is higher for younger veterans between the ages of 22 and 34 than civilians.
1,465,807. The Census Bureau reports that 1,465,807 veterans live under the official U.S. poverty line.
1,500,000. Almost 1.5 million veterans live in households with low enough incomes that they receive benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamps).
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.