Despite an In-House Culinary School, Borden Ave. Veterans Still Fed Cold Rice and Green Beans

By Timothy Pena • 21 Feb, 2024
Security for the VA transitional program nearly twice cost of food for homeless veterans at $6.60 a day

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By Sandra Muller • 13 Feb, 2024
Timothy Pena, veteran and journalist: “Writing saved my life” INTERVIEW SEEN FROM THE US. Timothy Pena is an American veteran who has been in prison and homeless. He helps his peers to reintegrate and access social assistance. He also became a journalist, to help make America and the media understand the plight of veterans.
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A Night on the Town

Timothy Pena • Jan 24, 2024

Point in Time Count of Homeless New Yorkers

Tonight, I had the rare opportunity to participate in the yearly Point in Time (PIT) count of homeless New Yorkers. Although I’m not certain of the official count, in the 20-block area our team covered, I counted about 20 homeless including three or four women although most were tucked inside their cardboard boxes for the night. Of the five or so who were awake spoke about the dangers of living on the street. The few that we were able to offer shelter to politely refused.


After spending five months in a violent shelter, I can attest to the danger of being in a shelter where at any moment I could have been assaulted because of the lax vetting process for veteran’s acceptance in the VA’s transitional program which possesses no structure. Picture a prison where someone who lost their house in a fire is forced to eat, sleep, and shower with violent sex offenders.

Most shelters are lacking in any type of vetting process so it’s a crap shoot who you might end up with in the bunk next to you. What makes the Borden Ave Veterans’ Residency unique is that there is no vetting of veterans sent there and the veterans enrolled in the only VA’s transitional program are subjected to unprovoked assaults, microwave eggs and cold rice, and daily drug overdoses. All the while the NYC Dept. of Homeless Services pockets nearly $4 million/year from Veterans Affairs to provide us with a safe, drug-free environment while we get our feet under us again.


Veterans in the transitional program are to remain drug-free, be addressing any court issues, applying for sustainable housing, and a whole host of other requirements all centered on a successful exit. It is impossible to be expected to excel when a third of those around you are ineligible for VA benefits for various reasons and therefore, have absolutely nothing to gain by playing by the rules. At least on the street, you can see an attack coming and defend yourself. Not so in most shelters, especially Borden Ave. Prison with a day-pass.

While our team identified about 20 on the streets and sidewalks tonight, that did not include the many in subways and stashed train stations and bank lobbies. There are a reported 262 blocks in Manhattan alone with a total 120,000 blocks in all of New York City. Based on what I witnessed tonight the total number of New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness could be staggering. From what we were told, only 1,000 homeless were placed in housing last year; a drop in the bucket when compared to the whole. A task made even more difficult since homeless cannot receive housing unless they spend 60 days in a shelter.

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.
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