U.S. Sen. Brown pledges support to eliminate homelessness among veterans

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) today pledged his continued support of federal legislation that seeks to eliminate homelessness among military veterans by expanding legal services and housing opportunities.

by Arnaldo Rodgers

The Homeless Veterans Prevention Act also would seek to provide more legal services and housing for female veterans. About 15 percent of homeless veterans are females, many of whom are not eligible for what few housing programs exist because they are limited to men.

“It’s our responsibility to make sure every veteran has a place to call home and an opportunity to succeed,” Mr. Brown, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, told reporters huddled inside the Neighborhood Properties Inc. office of Berry’s Landing, a 21-unit apartment building in South Toledo off Griffin Street that provides area veterans with two years of transition housing.

Also known as Griffin House, the facility gets its other name from a former vet, Bernard “Bernie” Berry who died in 2003 from a form of cancer that he attributed to exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam.

Joining Mr. Brown at the event were Jennifer Cawthorn-Mapes, the facility’s program manager, and Jed Flint, a ’70s era veteran who gave a testimonial about how a Veterans Administration job-retraining program saved his life. He said he had his rock bottom with alcoholism, but has been clean and sober for nine years and now is employed as a construction worker and, for the past six years, has owned a North Toledo home.

The VA “picked me up and brushed me off,” Mr. Flint, 58, said. “For me, I’m sure it saved my life. I’m sure I would have kept going downhill. I was definitely at my bottom. It [a VA job-retraining program] was a godsend to me.”

The legislation Mr. Brown touts had a lofty goal of ending all homelessness among veterans by 2015. Mr. Brown said that is unlikely to happen now, although he said there has been a 33 percent reduction since the legislation was originally enacted into law in 2010 and that it shows VA programs in general can be effective.

“Veterans who serve their country in order to protect our freedoms should never face homelessness,” Mr. Brown said.