Labor Department awards $47 million in grants to employ homeless veterans
The Department of Labor send us their press release announcing an award of $47,600,000 in grants to help employ homeless veterans;
“While serving in the military, veterans learn many skills desired in today’s workforce,” said [U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander] Acosta. “These grants will help thousands of homeless veterans reintegrate themselves into society and secure good jobs.”
Funds are being awarded on a competitive basis to state and local workforce investment boards; local public agencies and nonprofit organizations; tribal governments; and faith-based and community organizations. Homeless veterans may receive occupational skills training, apprenticeship opportunities, and on-the-job training, as well as job search and placement assistance.
By the way, the unemployment rate for veterans in June was 3.3%. I figure that I should mention it, since the media has been reasonably silent on the issue recently.
Category: Veterans Issues
I hate to state the obvious but doesn’t this whole program operate from the assumption that homeless vets want to work themselves out of their current situation?
I’m sure that many do, but if some are overcome by drugs, drinking, gambling, laziness, etc. would giving them money and a job help?
I’m sure in some cases it might but IMHO there needs to be something in place to screen those that want to help themselves and those that head nod and don’t turn down something offered for free.
“[V]eterans learn many skills desired in today’s workforce…” Then why is there a retraining need and why only homeless Veterans? Hell, these grants are money makers for state governments and a jobs program for unemployed bureaucrats. If there are homeless Veterans, a retraining program won’t fix that problem: housing does. What’s more, to follow Daisy Cutter’s point, there are other issues at play for Veterans on the street. I’ll just hold my applause on this, thanks.
10% of homeless vets are 2LTs that are permanently lost on LandNav.
Another 10% of homeless vets are posers who just want a handout and have never served.
[/sarc]
10 percent?
Try 90.
Doh! My bad.
2LTs … bwhaaa
2LT plus LandNav equals Urban Legend.
For some context, the National Unemployment Rate is currently 4.0% as of June.
I predict that $15 million will be fraudulently paid to poser POS like Jorge Santos. Let me guess, the VA will be responsible for vetting these guys. Anyone got an extra DD-214 and some white out?
That would be my guess, only more. The ones standing on the corner with their sign will be in line to see if there’s money on hand. When they find they have to actually DO something, even fill out a form and show up for a class, they will be back on the corner. The ones with more persistence will hang on and when they say “my what? No I lost my DD-214 long ago”, will be waived on through. Then when real vets who want training in a viable field in their area show up, the money will be gone.
So what is the purpose of this again, other than an excuse to employ even more bureaucrats? Vets, in spite of all the problems we carry with us have lower unemployment than the rest of the population. And, a bunch of folks have already been paid to deal with every ailment a vet might have, including homelessness.
Great. More designated victims who need help. Forget that the evidence would suggest otherwise.
If there were a recession going on, which makes finding any job difficult, I would feel some positive vibes about this, but there’s no recession and should not be for the foreseeable future. That could change, of course, but so far, there are jobs – good jobs — available, and they pay decent wages, so what was the problem again?
Sometimes homelessness is voluntary.
I appreciate the gesture and the idea, but let’s use the money to bump up something else. I can get a vet-specific grant from the state if I want to go to grad school or get a 2nd BA, but I don’t need any of that. I even talked to my sister about it because she’s part of the prep program for students who want to go on to grad school. All she did was point out the workload involved, plus the commute time and distance.
A lot of the work has already been done for the bureaucrats, who will probably outnumber the actual number of veterans who actually want a job. They need only look on any street corner for a ‘vet’ holding a sign about homelessness, medical problems, PTSD, ‘God bless you,’ blah, blah. Just round up those on street corners and teach them stuff. Maybe they could learn to make signs. After they realize they might have to do something other than just beg for money, they’ll be gone in a flash. Mentioned above is the fact that many simply dropped out of society and with to remain that way. The only interaction they want is when you hand them your money and when they then hand that money across the counter for fast food or booze. If the bureaucrats work this right, they can turn this into a massive boondoggle. I’m not saying there is no benefit in this, only that it’s not as simple as offering a vet a job. Hoping for the best, but ……
The posers are already lining up, comparing stories of the horrors of war with each other, making sure they come across well. Of course, their 214 will have been lost, or burned in THE fire, or stolen by their ex when they were thrown out of the house. This is another opportunity for a few thousand more bureaucrats. Hell, pretty soon it can be a bureaucrat’s ideal boondoggle. Maybe the head of the program can be made into a cabinet post. Color me skeptical.
I could find 20+ beneficiaries of the program in one day simply by driving around town and getting them off street corners.
Question? Where are these folks going to bathe, sleep, learn to dress, etc., once they nail down a job? I’m thinking under the overpass will be out of the question.
If a retraining program were all that was needed for the actual Veterans who need and want that assistance, not one of us would scoff at this. But this smacks of bullshit and non-Veterans will be passed through because, w/o numbers, the state programs will be failures. A homeless Veteran is homeless, if not by choice, not very long. Losing one’s 200K home due to this or that reason is not homelessness. Or maybe it will be under this program. Line up behind the trucks for your cheese.
I call bullshit. I don’t believe there are even 20,000 real homeless real veterans. Now there may be many tens of thousands of bums who washed out of basic training and who don’t want to work or are addicted to drugs or alcohol. This is nothing more than another waste of our tax dollars, most of which will be expended on more useless bureaucrats.
Yeah.
Rarely do I see an honorably discharged vet who is homeless. Especially if they served their full hitch. Now keep in mind some of these ass-suckers are riding the system and faking the funk, but they are not homeless.
There are case examples that say otherwise, but that is a very small number and even then those folks experienced a traumatic event of some sort.
I may take some heat on this, but if you are not honorable, I could care less if you are in a ditch or under a bridge. Honorable mean sucking up the shit and driving on.
There is the occasional youngster who makes a legitimate mistake due to immaturity who gets himself into enough trouble to be thrown out of the military, takes it as a wake up call and goes on to become a productive member of society. There are ways for those few to get their less than honorable discharge upgraded. I’m OK with that for the few who actually earn it.
Most screw ups adopt that as a way of life and deserve nothing special from the rest of us.
Not only do I already predict Godless amounts of brainless bureaucracy but plenty of “Professional Homeless” riding it for every cent they can get!
I agree with many of the comments here. Most of the money will never make it to a honest veteran. What they need to do is when released from service give the veteran certificates showing that they are already trained in. So veterans don’t get told like I did when I got out after 12 years, I was told I had to go back to school and get certified as a civilian welder even tho I was a certified 4954 welder in the Navy for 12 years certified 40 ton crane operator and certified all the way up to Semi-truck driver but non of it was any good after getting out of the service.
They have to want to work.