So I know everyone is all hot and bothered about budget cuts this year, and I am too. Here’s why: necessary services are getting slashed left and right and the already incredibly difficult task of housing the homeless is about to get just that much harder. One program that we case managers rely on particularly is getting cut for ridiculous reasons because the government made silly staffing decisions and now those who need the most help are now going to have to pay for them.

The VA has a housing subsidy program called VASH. This stands for VA Supportive Housing. There are many disabled Veterans who are homeless who are not able to live totally independently. The nature of their disability requires some support to make sure that they are getting the right care for their physical and mental health and a VASH subsidy allows them to live in their own apartment, pay 30% of their income with the rest of the total rent subsidized by the government, and have a social worker who sees them regularly and helps them go through the process to get their health to a place where they can live stably housed lives. This is a wonderful and very necessary program. The cost of institutionalizing these people would be immense and likely very harmful to their health rather than conducive to its improvement. Yet they are unlikely to be able to maintain a stable housing situation on their own and will probably end up back on the street without proper support.

The VA did something a little silly with some of these subsidy vouchers. They sent them to places where there was no staff to distribute them and so they collected dust during the period in which they were supposed to be used. When the government re-evaluated the program and saw that there was a large number of vouchers that had gone unused, they decided to bring this program up to the chopping block. We’re looking at losing 10,000 vouchers that Veterans need.

Fortunately for us, our lovely Senator Murray is the chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee and would love to hear about how her constituents would like to see the homeless housed. You can send her an email about how ridiculous this cut would be at her website.

Like any self-respecting group, Veterans have a long list of acronyms that make anyone who didn’t go through bootcamp feel like they are hopelessly out of the loop, and no, your ridiculously over-enthused fitness instructor will not help you understand what it is like to experience bootcamp. Unfortunately the lingo has spread beyond basic training to describe the after effects of war. Soldiers are returning to their communities with any number of ailments that are described by their doctors on charts that look like the alphabet threw up all over them. SA, MST, PTSD, and DHA patients are getting treatment from their doctors, but leaving their communities entirely in the dark about what it is that all these acronyms mean. Why does society need to know? Because they are all social disorders caused by the pressures and trauma that people often experience while in the military. Let us begin with PTSD.

PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder. Known commonly back in the day by a number of different names, this condition is not unique to soldiers. In fact, chances are that if you are not a shut in you have experienced some kind of traumatic event in your life that caused you to experience some of the symptoms of PTSD. Nightmares, intrusive thoughts, having an irrational fear of people with certain characteristics, insomnia, self-medicating substance abuse, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, severe mood swings, and inability to concentrate are just a few possible symptoms of PTSD. It is a slippery condition because the symptoms are unique to both the traumatic event or series of events that are the cause as well as the idiosyncrasies of the individual who is experiencing them. For soldiers who have had their own lives and the lives of those serving with them depending on their every move throughout their service, in light of the horrible realities of war, I’m sure that you can imagine the trauma that occurs under that stress. This disorder is disabling for many Veterans. It can leave them with such severe residual effects that they live in constant fear and perpetual lack of sleep.

Having a community that is aware of PTSD and its causes could be incredibly helpful for Veterans because it might just begin to lift the stigma that asking for help has in the military. If we can support these Vets as they return and help them readjust to civilian life then hopefully we will begin seeing fewer Vets on the street after having had issues with their readjustment period.

Every year in Seattle there is an event called the One Night Count. This event, run by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH pronounced Skitch for those wanting to be up on their homelessness lingo), organizes volunteers to go out in the middle of the night and count all the people they find sleeping outside. It is the only effective way we have found thus far to get a useful baseline number of how many literally homeless people we have in Seattle sleeping outside on any given night.

This year the number was 2,442, which is down 11% from the 2010 count of 2,759. This is great news. If you live in Seattle you can now give yourself a pat on the back for participating in creating the culture and services needed to begin eradicating homelessness. If you feel like you didn’t do anything to help, start today.

Its easy to fit the topic of “ending homelessness” into a category that is only ever really discussed by beauty queens, politicians, and other groups of people who may never be required to have a solid grip on reality, but I am here to inform you that you can make a substantial improvement in someone’s life without needing to put on fake eyelashes or run for office. Here are three easy ways to make some impact in the Seattle area:

1) Give to United Way. United Way of King County is a particularly awesome organization that has somehow managed to do the impossible. Only three cents of every dollar go towards organizational costs, while the rest goes towards those who need it. Many companies have donation drives (and if you want to start a donation drive at your company, they have all the tools, including pre-written email asks, graphics, and support all available through their website) in which you can actually ask your payroll department to take out a few dollars from each paycheck until you reach the full amount you pledged.

They provide lots of support for organizations throughout King County so you can either give to something specific that’s close to your heart or let them do the choosing. If panhandlers make you uncomfortable, but still find yourself wracked with guilt, this may be a good option for you.
2) Volunteer a skill. If you’re short on dollars but have a few hours to spare, think about donating a skill. Stick to what you know and find a population that needs it. If you’re a certified accountant, offer a few hours of help with bad credit. If you are a massage therapist, donate a few fifteen minute massages. If you have a truck and like to decorate, offer to help move someone into a new apartment.

When you’re searching for a place to volunteer, look for the words “transitional” or “low-income permanent.” Ask for the volunteer coordinator and talk to them about your idea or skill. Facilities like these will have higher functioning clients that will probably be more stable and able to take advantage of your services.

3) Don’t ignore the problem. Even though our count is down from last year, we still have a long way to go. Vote, and remember that paying taxes is equal to providing high quality services for those who need it the most. Do small things like having your kids set aside 10% of their allowance to give to charity. This will help create the culture that will enable Seattle to keep pushing to end homelessness.