‘Unimaginable number of veterans homeless’

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American  military veterans who have returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are  homeless in “almost unimaginable numbers,” says Gordon Duff, senior editor at  VT.

American  veterans are returning to the United States “where our economy is in total  shambles, where we have massive unemployment in the non-veteran work force,” he  in a phone interview on Saturday.

 “Despite our  lowered unemployment figures, a large percentage of those are people that are no  longer even bothering to look for work because there is no work in the U.S.,” he  added.

The number of  Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are homeless or at risk of losing a roof over  their heads has more than doubled in the past two years, according to government  data.

 Through the end  of September, 26,531 of the veterans were living on the streets, at risk of  losing their homes, staying in temporary housing or receiving federal vouchers  to pay rent, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reports. That’s up from  10,500 in 2010. The VA says the numbers could be higher because they include  only the homeless the department is aware of.

AHT/ARA