Veterans in Transition Need Access to Resources

In April 2016 I was released from the Maricopa County Jail where I had spent 70 days in the Psych Ward to find out I had also lost my apartment. Homeless with no job and no money, I showed up the door of the Community Resource and Referral Center (CRRC), the veteran’s outreach program for the Phoenix VA. After crashing on a friend’s floor a few days, i was referred to MANA House. MANA stands for: Marine, Army, Navy, and Air Force. The joke was they couldn’t include the Coast Guard because then it would be MANAC. That was of course before Space Force. Through in an ‘S’ in the mix and up all sorts of possibilities for creative anagrams.

Anyway, one of the most frustrating challenges here at Borden Ave is the lack of access to the library which is where the computers are. When I inquired as to why, I was told of an assault against the library volunteer a few years ago who then never came back. I was told also of a time that volunteers were recruited from the Borden Ave veteran pool, but were watching porn on the library computers, so it was shut down completely.

My experience with MANA House (100% GPD) in Phoenix addressed both those issues:

• Stop the porn with a block monitored by the 3rd party carrier.

• Hire a veteran and pay a weekly/monthly stipend to oversee the library. 

• Install a second lock on the library door and have the veterans check it out from the front desk. 

In the few months I have been here I have had numerous instances when a veteran was not properly prepared for a situation that may have led to employment. In August, when the city was hiring cleaning crews for the subway, we were unable to get online with my laptop and hotspot, and the library wasn’t open. The veteran was unable to submit the online application and the time window closed.

Not only is the library important for submitting online applications, but also to sharpen skills for positions that require working with computers, interview preparation, writing and submitting resumes and lots more. Much of the information we receive from city/state/federal agencies is time sensitive and missing an expiration date can be costly. And while the facility case managers are quite adept at completing paperwork, these opportunities are best served when completed by the veteran and with the assistance of other veterans to create that learning environment where everyone wins.

Recently, I was brought to a Goodwill Career Center in Brooklyn for a career fair with a local veteran’s organization, Black Veterans for Social Justice (BVSJ). Each of the five of us were provided an ‘interview’ to see where our strengths were and then tested. I spend a good deal of time on the laptop, so I fared well for data entry, etc. and immediately received three offers. While I was flattered to receive offers so quickly, I noticed other veterans who may be also qualified, but struggled on the typing portion of the placement testing. This is a big deal. The opportunities that come with Goodwill Careers are a one-time shot, so it is imperative that the veteran be properly prepared with skills that access to computers can provide. Organizations such as BVSJ dedicate themselves to providing hard-to-obtain services and opportunities and it reflects negatively when a good candidate becomes available but wasn’t able to brush up on any employment skills before pre-employment testing.

There’s another issue at play here. Organizations such as Institute for Community Living (ICL) are always afraid of technology and do what they can to minimize the possibility of bad publicity. This is par for the course in the era we live. But, sacrificing just one opportunity for a veteran to be successful is unacceptable and providing that access to technology is as important as housing and food. Management at Borden Ave has taken a further step of adding another barrier to accessing the internet within the walls of Borden Ave with a dropdown of the amount of time internet will be available to the specific veteran. While this added challenge further handcuffs the veteran, it should be noted that prior requests of mine have gone days without approval, or as often, not approved at all. If it weren’t for my hotspot to provide wi-fi for my laptop, I’d have no access at all either. As it is, the building is a virtual internet ‘dead zone’ so getting a signal is tough. Getting a signal that will allow documents to be downloaded is damn near impossible. That holds especially true for government documents.

For those veterans trying to get a new lease on life, access to a simple tool such as a computer should be a no-brainer; especially with working computers and internet behind a locked door just few away. This past Monday, hours for the library were posted for Tuesday-Saturday, but the library remained closed on Tuesday, and it is unknown if the library was open on Wednesday. Hours are posted for Thursday evening, so it remains unclear it the library will open. When I checked, the library was again closed and now the signs for the hours have been taken down. Access to the library is a vital tool in the success of the transitioning veteran to deny them that access is to deny them a smooth transition.

The community is also affected because of this. Security at the Queens Library has had numerous encounters with intoxicated veterans creating disturbances with foul language, loud voices, and inappropriate comments. Time on the computers which were available all day have recently been reduced to one hour/day. According to library staff, this change is to avail the media center more accessible to the students in the area. And while the veterans from Borden Ave are not big users of the media center (except for me), it is not a place space that allows two people to work on the computer together, so any form of conversational exchange is out of the question. It should also be noted that while the library’s design is cool, the lack of buffer zones allows sounds and voices to carry unabated throughout the building.

The process of going from homeless to homeness entails lots of applications which generate lots of responses, mostly in the form of snail mail to the veteran experiencing homelessness. A couple of months ago I received an ID card in the mail. Not knowing what it was and focused on housing, I decided to address whatever governmental agency the card is for after I was settled in the new place. Even though a veteran is fully integrated in the VA system like I currently am, veterans are still required to sign up for state and local healthcare and services. Another veteran had asked me about his card and I promised to look into it. It just so happened the offices for NYCHA (HUD/VASH) and the NYC Department of Social Services (EBT) in Brooklyn are next to one another. To my surprise, the card I thought was for healthcare is also for EBT and I have funds in my account. It took about 10 minutes on the phone to activate, and I can now pass that information on to other veterans in the same situation.

These situations are created in the veteran environment and best resolved in the veteran environment where we can speak freely, loudly, ask questions, and argue with each other because that’s what we do and why we get things done. And that is exactly why the library is so important to the veteran on a path of success. It’s classic ‘Veterans Helping Veterans 101’ and a necessity for the transitioning veteran.

I was recently leaving the facility and stumbled upon a veteran sleeping on the sidewalk across the street from Borden Ave. “James” is a Marine who did two tours in Afghanistan with a 50% VA Disability for back, knees, and feet. James has been in NYC for about a week and was staying at the 30th St. Shelter before being referred to Borden Ave. He’s also suffering mental health crisis.

Shortly after arriving from Utah he was an altercation on the subway and was punched 10-12 times in the back of the head. I took him to the VA Emergency Room when he told me of blackouts. James left the facility after another altercation with a neighboring veterans in the open bunks reserved for veterans who are not eligible for the HUD/VASH program. James is fully entrenched into the VA system, but I was told he must stay in the bunks until he is assigned a cubicle, but that took two weeks for me after returning from Arizona with my paperwork. During that two weeks I was in the bunks, I was also being told that I couldn’t be accepted into the HUD/VASH program until I was in a cubicle. A few days after finally getting into a cubicle I contracted Covid and the process continued to be shelved for another 15 days while I was in isolation. I was ‘presented’ like a farm animal at the state fair to HUD/VASH in early October and then ‘approved’ for a HUD/VASH voucher on October 11th. It took about two weeks to assign a VA caseworker who then took an additional two weeks to tell me I had been approved and forward my documentation to New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) for processing that I’m told will take another 2-4 months, but the VA is telling me could be as soon as “two weeks.”

Meanwhile, Citileaf, the agency that manages the HIV supportive housing program which is holding an apartment for me for has been saddled with paying for an empty apartment coming up on three months now with no set timeline of how many more months lost while NYCHA processes a claim as if it was day one which was Nov. 17th. I arrived and was triaged as a priority one homeless veteran needing housing on July 26, 2022. That was 122 days ago with still no clear resolution in sight. This waiting game doesn’t just affect the veteran, it is incredibly dangerous as with is happening with James. He is in a homeless shelter as a transitioning veteran, but he is no safer here than in Rykers. I’ve personally seen a sink torn off a bathroom wall and the management appear to consider that as no big deal. James feels unsafe here at the facility, so he is leaving every day to get drunk and wander the City of New York. I saw him yesterday. He has a black eye. Told me he was kicked the other day in Manhattan. Remembers something about an ambulance and being strapped down. He was fairly sober when I took him to the VA ER, and he remembered very little. I’ve alerted staff several times of his possible head injury and requested he be moved into a cubicle while the only person that can do that has their Thanksgiving holiday gets back, but he’ll be there most likely until next week if he survives the weekend. Hardcore New Yorkers don’t take kindly to drunk veterans on the street saying offensive shit to them or their friends.

James was immediately seen at to the ER but left before the results of a CATscan came back. He was drunk, and he’s terrified. Hopefully, the Marine will make it through without getting himself killed before being assigned a cubicle. For the record, I did ask for James to be allowed to sleep in one of numerous empty cubicles, but that request was dismissed by the house manager. It should be noted that this is supposed to be a transitional program for veterans on a path to success with resources, housing, employment; but we are continuously challenged by an organization that refuses us decent meals, laundry access, computers, housing, even clothing. Donated clothing is locked away and the veteran must get a ‘voucher’ from their caseworker which then must be presented to pick out a t-shirt. The only laundry available is from the house laundry room. They do not fold and laundered clothing is returned balled up in a plastic bag. Since there is also no starch allowed because it clogs the air filters although my neighbor has taken up cigar smoking. For anyone that has tried, it’s difficult to iron a laundered shirt with starch. Once the wrinkles are dried into the fabric, getting them ironed out with only water isn’t going to happen. The local laundromat doesn’t supply self-service ironing services, and it’s a little expensive for dry-cleaning. Be sure to stand downwind of me since I haven’t done laundry in a while.

This is especially problematic for organizations such as Jericho Project and Black Veterans for Social Justice whose funding depends on placement of veterans in new jobs, are forced to pick from veterans who are receiving no access to computers, no access to a refrigerator, no access to laundry, and no sleep; but then are expected to show up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a forty-hour job. Veterans are in transition not to be tested, but to be treated. A veteran already struggling with mental illness, financial hardship, or whatever brings them to the homeless shelter should be afforded an opportunity to be successful and that success comes with access to all available resources which is what the taxpayers are paying for.

Another veteran also waiting on HUD/VASH has been here at the shelter since July 20th but was only presented for HUD/VASH two months ago. I have a buddy from ACB-1 who told me his voucher took 54 days which is apparently average. The veterans I have spoken with are nowhere near average and the New York City Department of Veteran Services has only four people for the initial steps of the voucher process. There are nearly 600 veterans experiencing homelessness in NYC and the process is at a standstill. I was told that they need more funding and are hiring more caseworkers, but it takes time. That’s time we don’t have.

Veterans in Transition Need Access to Resources

Timothy Pena initially traveled to NYC at the invitation of RIP Medical Debt founder and U.S. Navy Veteran Jerry Ashton to collaborate for his project, Veterans Mission Possible. Soon after arriving, Tim decided he would rather be homeless in NYC than commit suicide in Phoenix and spent five months in a shelter before obtaining his HUD/VASH voucher for supportive housing while detailing his journey from homeless to homeness with a series of articles called, 'Be the Story'. He has testified before the NYS Department of Veterans Affairs, is a member of the NYC Veterans Task Force and Military Veterans in Journalism, while founding The Forgotten Veteran non-profit. Email: Timothy Pena