Yesterday Obama unveiled a housing program for veterans. He plans to introduce the legislation in Congress that he calls Homes for Heroes, which would establish grant and voucher programs to encourage development of affordable housing targeted for veterans. During a three-day trip to Iowa, (where's he's now visited 20 different counties), he made vets a top priority.
"Veterans are far more likely to be homeless than nonveterans and part of it is because we're not providing services to them as they transition out of the service," Obama said in an interview Friday before a campaign rally. "Part of it is because there is just not enough affordable housing."
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that as many as 200,000 are living on the streets or in shelters and perhaps twice as many are homeless at some time in the course of a year.
Obama, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, concluded a three-day trip to Iowa by touring the Iowa Veterans Home and focusing on veterans issues. He said the government spends billions on the war but has consistently shortchanged programs for veterans, whose needs should be a top priority.
Obama said he chose to visit the Iowa Veterans Home because of its solid reputation. The center is essentially a state-financed retirement home for veterans, which Obama believes is a model for the rest of the country.
1 comment:
Nice to see that someone supports the troops AFTER they're done on the battlefield. Unlike a certain current president we know.
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