Veterans before immigrants?

[Amused]

Veterans before immigrants?

There are currently about 50,000 homeless veterans in the United states, accounting for approximately 9% of the total homeless population. The average cost of a home in the US is $272,900. To buy every homeless veteran a house would cost about 13.7 billion dollars.

A wall costs 70 billion. For 70 billion you could buy every homeless veteran a house, and pay them a yearly stipend for maintenence and property taxes and still have money left over.

Yet you want to spend $70 billion on a wall because "vets before immigrants"???

Stop claiming you care about veterans and stop using us as your political propaganda tool.

 

[SlowSpyder]

You think simply buying a house for homeless vets is the answer? For most homeless people there are very likely underlying reasons why they are homeless. If you simply buy homeless people a house, I suspect many of them will find themselves homeless again within some months or years.

 

[Amused]

You think simply buying a house for homeless vets is the answer? For most homeless people there are very likely underlying reasons why they are homeless. If you simply buy homeless people a house, I suspect many of them will find themselves homeless again within some months or years.

The remaining 56 billion could be spent on that. Of course the style of housing would depend on the needs of the veteran.

However, 70 billion would easily solve the problem with a huge surplus left over.

I think you missed the point.

 

[BoomerD]

You think simply buying a house for homeless vets is the answer? For most homeless people there are very likely underlying reasons why they are homeless. If you simply buy homeless people a house, I suspect many of them will find themselves homeless again within some months or years.

Sadly, this is very true. The vast majority of homeless people aren't homeless because, " Fuck it. I'm gonna give up everything and go live on the streets."
Nope, drugs, alcohol, (just another type of drug) and mental illness are the major causes...

If it was just job loss from lack of jobs, that would be something the OP's idea would help with. Job loss from any of the 3 reasons I posted...not so much.

As a veteran, it pisses me off to see the government ask our youth to go into harm's way...then basically ignore them when they get hurt/injured/suffer mental problems as a result of that service. PTSD isn't just a buzzword...it's a very real problem.

 

[Vic]

There's not a lot of profit to be had in helping vets. But those numbers do give some perspective, don't they? For the cost of the wall, we could build more than 250,000 average homes. For the cost of the wall, we could put nearly half a million students through college. But the Democrats are the big government socialists, right?

 

[SlowSpyder]

The remaining 56 billion could be spent on that. Of course the style of housing would depend on the needs of the veteran.

However, 70 billion would easily solve the problem with a huge surplus left over.

I think you missed the point.

I don't think throwing money at this issue is a fix. We've spent well north of a trillion dollars on the war on drugs, and drugs and substance abuse hasn't really diminished. People that are homeless very often fall into the category of those with mental issues and substance abusers, the two go hand in hand. I know you're trying to make this a black and white, problem/fix issue to defame those that think border security is a good idea, but I don't think this issue can be dumbed down to that extent. I am all for spending more money on programs to help those vets with mental health issues, we have to start somewhere. But I don't see how taking money away from border security is the answer. Maybe we can put vets before able adults that aren't working that suck up social programs, cut those benefits and redirect that money.

 

[K1052]

There's not a lot of profit to be had in helping vets. But those numbers do give some perspective, don't they? For the cost of the wall, we could build more than 250,000 average homes. For the cost of the wall, we could put nearly half a million students through college. But the Democrats are the big government socialists, right?

The role of US government is to fatten the profits of private contractors paying for shit we don't need (or that doesn't even work). Just as the founders intended.

Helping actual needy Americans in any way is socialism and thus evil/wrong because they're all freeloaders.

 

[Stokely]

You think simply buying a house for homeless vets is the answer? For most homeless people there are very likely underlying reasons why they are homeless. If you simply buy homeless people a house, I suspect many of them will find themselves homeless again within some months or years.

It's almost as if longstanding complex problems can't be solved with one simple action....

 

[thilanliyan]

It's almost as if longstanding complex problems can't be solved with one simple action....

Pffft...buzzwords can solve anything...

 

[compuwiz1]

A Viet Nam vet told me last night that he believes that about 75% of the homeless are veterans who have seen war duty. They are mentally pretty messed up. Something needs to be done to help them, but I do not believe that providing a house is going to solve the very problems that got them to where they are. That would be akin to giving an alcoholic booze, or a degenerate gambler money. Something has caused these people to lose control of their lives and putting them in a house isn't going to resolve those issues. It's going to take a lot of work on the individual until there is a complete psychic change in them. Mental rehabilitation must come first, until they are once again capable of managing their lives. I can see where a person, once rehabilitated, could be given a leg up and some housing assistance, once they are ready. We should find a way to rehab these people into becoming productive again. Some are going to be a lost cause and should be put into an assisted living situation with disability benefits, enough to provide them some better quality of life. Its a sad and hopeless situation and they are all around me, where I live. I give things like clothes and personal hygiene things, when I can and have bought meals for some as well.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

70B can solve a lot of problems, homeless vets probably isn't one of them though, for the reasons listed above.

Honestly 70B into NASA would probably pay back far more dividends than anything else we could possibly spend that on, but I'm partial to the sciences.

 

[interchange]

This thread is whataboutism.

To weigh in on the homeless veteran problem... Well, there actually have been great successes with various housing first programs. It turns out if you address the housing need first, it tends to enable people to work on their other problems and saves money overall for the system rather than trying to make sobriety, etc. a pre-condition for housing. Vet research is a little different with having much more success in addressing both needs simultaneously through, e.g. domiciliary programs. In my experience, it makes a but of sense. Military trauma and community identifications are different than civilian ones generally.

 

[Amused]

This thread is whataboutism.

To weigh in on the homeless veteran problem... Well, there actually have been great successes with various housing first programs. It turns out if you address the housing need first, it tends to enable people to work on their other problems and saves money overall for the system rather than trying to make sobriety, etc. a pre-condition for housing. Vet research is a little different with having much more success in addressing both needs simultaneously through, e.g. domiciliary programs. In my experience, it makes a but of sense. Military trauma and community identifications are different than civilian ones generally.

This thread is literally NOT the definition of whataboutism.

It is exposing the hypocrisy of those who say "vets before immigrants" backing a 70 billion wall when that 70 billion could house, feed and care for every homeless veteran for life with money to spare. The majority of people I see backing the wall are also the ones sporting "vets before immigrants/refugees/illegal immigrants" propaganda.

It is me, as a retired Army veteran, expressing my disgust at being used as a political tool by people who claim to support us, but really don't.
And I don't give a fuck about the minutiae of the homeless vet problem. Just the basic fact that 70 billion is funding would fix it for life. Whatever housing and care they needed would be easily covered.

 

[senseamp]

What does veterans before immigrants even mean? Is GOP claiming I took something from a veteran as an immigrant, despite the fact that I pay six figure tax bills that fund the VA, among other things? Really disgusting Republican smear.

 

[Amused]

What does veterans before immigrants even mean? Is GOP claiming I took something from a veteran as an immigrant, despite the fact that I pay six figure tax bills that fund the VA, among other things? Really disgusting Republican smear.

A sample of the propaganda

This one was from a Russian social media page:

 

[Starbuck1975]

What was the excuse for the neglect of veterans before Trump took office? Quite a few Vietnam vets were on the streets well before the Wall was even a consideration. There are inadequate mental health resources for those who have been on nonstop deployments since we invaded Afghanistan.

The Wall is a terrible idea and no veteran should be on the streets. The topics have nothing to do with one another.

 

[JEDIYoda]

What was the excuse for the neglect of veterans before Trump took office? Quite a few Vietnam vets were on the streets well before the Wall was even a consideration. There are inadequate mental health resources for those who have been on nonstop deployments since we invaded Afghanistan.

The Wall is a terrible idea and no veteran should be on the streets. The topics have nothing to do with one another.

Why the deflection?? This thread is about the money for the wall verses doing right by the veterans. Your comment about before Trump is off topic and actually identifies your ilk as part of the problem -- REPUBLICAN!

 

[Starbuck1975]

Why the deflection?? This thread is about the money for the wall verses doing right by the veterans. Your comment about before Trump is off topic and actually identifies your ilk as part of the problem -- REPUBLICAN!

We have had many opportunities to do right by veterans, and yet as a society have chosen not to. The Wall has nothing to do with that equation. That is not off topic. This thread is about not politicizing veterans while doing just that.

 

[Victorian Gray]

A Viet Nam vet told me last night that he believes that about 75% of the homeless are veterans who have seen war duty. They are mentally pretty messed up. Something needs to be done to help them, but I do not believe that providing a house is going to solve the very problems that got them to where they are. That would be akin to giving an alcoholic booze, or a degenerate gambler money. Something has caused these people to lose control of their lives and putting them in a house isn't going to resolve those issues. It's going to take a lot of work on the individual until there is a complete psychic change in them. Mental rehabilitation must come first, until they are once again capable of managing their lives. I can see where a person, once rehabilitated, could be given a leg up and some housing assistance, once they are ready. We should find a way to rehab these people into becoming productive again. Some are going to be a lost cause and should be put into an assisted living situation with disability benefits, enough to provide them some better quality of life. Its a sad and hopeless situation and they are all around me, where I live. I give things like clothes and personal hygiene things, when I can and have bought meals for some as well.

just an fyi, the guy who believes that vets are 75% of the homeless is very wrong. Check the chart under this heading

Total Number of People Experiencing Homelessness per Year by Type, 2007–2017

https://endhomelessness.org/homeles...ness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-report/

 

[UglyCasanova]

Veterans before immigrants?

There are currently about 50,000 homeless veterans in the United states, accounting for approximately 9% of the total homeless population. The average cost of a home in the US is $272,900. To buy every homeless veteran a house would cost about 13.7 billion dollars.

A wall costs 70 billion. For 70 billion you could buy every homeless veteran a house, and pay them a yearly stipend for maintenence and property taxes and still have money left over.

Yet you want to spend $70 billion on a wall because "vets before immigrants"???

Stop claiming you care about veterans and stop using us as your political propaganda tool.

Get rid of VA hospitals, provide insurance to veterans so they can get care whereever they want to go, and use the remainder to buy vets homes (for much, much, much less than 200k, offer them those mini homes) if you want after they complete a mandatory detox program for those with substance abuse problems. Problem solved.

 

[UglyCasanova]

We have had many opportunities to do right by veterans, and yet as a society have chosen not to. The Wall has nothing to do with that equation. That is not off topic. This thread is about not politicizing veterans while doing just that.

I don’t buy it. Vets have ample opportunities in society not just vis the government but from the private sector as well. Anyone who puts they’re a vet in their resume is afforded a much better shot at a job. They were paid for the services they did, I think as a nation we tend to go overboard with the hero worship we give them (cops and firefighters as well to a lesser degree).

My brothers a vet and anytime were at a function where they want to recognize hose who’ve served he resumes to stand up for that very reason, he’s against the hero worship and finds it bs. He was a corpman and has seen some shit too, holding the skull together of a good friend honblem his brains out, several times having to get the bodies of folks he knew that killed themselves (lots of suicides, not even in battle either but training out in the desert and such), fixing up bad wounds where people have been shot or worse, and the best one having to fix up a bullet would of a pirate off the coast of Somalia after the dumbasses tried to attack a Navy vessel with their speedboat and a few rifles and were summarily let know who was in charge . But he finds the hero worship to be so misguided and uncalled for.

 

[JEDIYoda]

We have had many opportunities to do right by veterans, and yet as a society have chosen not to. The Wall has nothing to do with that equation. That is not off topic. This thread is about not politicizing veterans while doing just that.

true we did havre many opportunities but we did not take them and now your trying to deflect the fact that we still are not taking the opportunity under Trump...…..nice try at bring up the past......you see the past is just that thre past.....we are talking about now not what we failed to do in the past...lol

 

[Starbuck1975]

true we did havre many opportunities but we did not take them and now your trying to deflect the fact that we still are not taking the opportunity under Trump...…..nice try at bring up the past......you see the past is just that thre past.....we are talking about now not what we failed to do in the past...lol

Those who ignore history...

What makes you think one dollar not spent on the wall would automatically go to benefit veterans. I’ve been waiting 20 years for VA reform. Not going to hold my breath that something now is going to magically change, and the Wall is completely irrelevant to this discussion. We could reallocate a lot of things to veterans.

 

[Starbuck1975]

I don’t buy it. Vets have ample opportunities in society not just vis the government but from the private sector as well. Anyone who puts they’re a vet in their resume is afforded a much better shot at a job. They were paid for the services they did, I think as a nation we tend to go overboard with the hero worship we give them (cops and firefighters as well to a lesser degree).

My brothers a vet and anytime were at a function where they want to recognize hose who’ve served he resumes to stand up for that very reason, he’s against the hero worship and finds it bs. He was a corpman and has seen some shit too, holding the skull together of a good friend honblem his brains out, several times having to get the bodies of folks he knew that killed themselves (lots of suicides, not even in battle either but training out in the desert and such), fixing up bad wounds where people have been shot or worse, and the best one having to fix up a bullet would of a pirate off the coast of Somalia after the dumbasses tried to attack a Navy vessel with their speedboat and a few rifles and were summarily let know who was in charge . But he finds the hero worship to be so misguided and uncalled for.

Taking care of physically and mentally broken people who got that way serving their country is not hero worship, its simply the right thing to do.

 

[Greenman]

Veterans before immigrants?

There are currently about 50,000 homeless veterans in the United states, accounting for approximately 9% of the total homeless population. The average cost of a home in the US is $272,900. To buy every homeless veteran a house would cost about 13.7 billion dollars.

A wall costs 70 billion. For 70 billion you could buy every homeless veteran a house, and pay them a yearly stipend for maintenence and property taxes and still have money left over.

Yet you want to spend $70 billion on a wall because "vets before immigrants"???

Stop claiming you care about veterans and stop using us as your political propaganda tool.

Why hav

Veterans before immigrants?

There are currently about 50,000 homeless veterans in the United states, accounting for approximately 9% of the total homeless population. The average cost of a home in the US is $272,900. To buy every homeless veteran a house would cost about 13.7 billion dollars.

A wall costs 70 billion. For 70 billion you could buy every homeless veteran a house, and pay them a yearly stipend for maintenence and property taxes and still have money left over.

Yet you want to spend $70 billion on a wall because "vets before immigrants"???

Stop claiming you care about veterans and stop using us as your political propaganda tool.

It's amazing how you suddenly care about homeless vets. If I'd ever seen you take up the issue before I might think you actually gave a shit.