Friday, November 9, 2007

The good news and the bad news.

Within the last few days, HUD announced a drop in the number of chronic homeless people. The success of 1) targeting the most at-risk folks who are the high-end users of all sorts of services, and 2) moving them into permanent housing seems to be working. CBS even picked up the story. That's the good news.

The bad news is that nearly a quarter of all those who are homeless are veterans. Notice that younger veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq are finding their way to shelters. The impact of PTSD is most likely going to result in mental health issues that incapacitate some of these young men. Unfortunately, the federal government is not doing much about this yet. I wonder who will create the safety net.

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