On Monday, homeless veterans were handed some welcome news from the United States Department of Labor. The news announced is that the Department of Labor will commit over $20 million to fund job training and support services for veterans who are homeless. There will be 90 grants awarded using the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program in order to provide on-the-job training, placement assistance and job search assistance along with follow-up services.
“Americans who have served their country should not find themselves without a home,” Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said in a press release. “The grants announced today will help these heroes find good jobs and take us one step closer to the goal of ending veteran homelessness altogether.”
According to the government’s first-ever veteran homelessness study, veterans are 50 percent more likely to wind up without a place to call home than most other U.S. citizens. The study was released in 2011. Homeless vets are also more likely to contract a life-threatening disease than other homeless people, according to a 100,000 Homes Campaign study that was published in November.
Plenty of returning service member said that they do not want handouts. Instead, they would like hands-on training programs much like the ones that will be funded from the $20 million from the Department of Labor.