The men and women who serve in the nation's military face many challenges when coming home. Their lives after service should be full of enjoyment and rediscovery, but sometimes they are plagued with anxiety. Physical injury and emotional damage like post-traumatic stress disorder are fairly common struggles for veterans. However, financial uncertainties and housing instability are also issues for returning service members.
We Honor Veterans reported that about 58,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and there are currently more homeless Vietnam-era veterans than there were American deaths in the actual war. But are these numbers decreasing under the Obama administration? On July 21, during his interview with Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show", the president said his administration decreased veteran homelessness by a third. Based on the the Department of Housing and Urban Development "point in time" counts, the number of homeless veterans was, in fact, down by 33 percent from the last year. Obama and his team also increased the budget for veteran homelessness from $400 million to $1.5 billion since 2009.
Some experts argue that the numbers surrounding veteran homelessness are difficult to track, but according to the Tampa Bay Times, most agree that the figures Obama shared are accurate.