NEW YORK CITY - New York City's veteran leaders frequently express concern that too many veterans fail to identify themselves. Government agencies, advisory boards, and veteran organizations routinely discuss outreach and engagement, yet few ask a more important question:
Why would struggling veterans identify with a community that appears unwilling to acknowledge them?
For many homeless veterans, the answer is simple. The treatment of homeless veterans establishes the standard for how all veterans are valued. When the most vulnerable veterans are ignored or excluded, the message reaches far beyond the shelter system.
The Veterans Missing from the Conversation
As a service-connected disabled Navy veteran rated 70% for PTSD, I have spent nearly four years advocating for homeless veterans in New York City. In 2016 after spending nearly 70 days incarcerated in a mental health unit, I was released homeless and referred to Catholic Charities MANA House, one of two Veterans Affairs Grant and Per Diem (GPD) transitional programs in Phoenix where I spent 17 months as a resident and front desk clerk. After arriving in New York in 2022, I spent five months at Borden Avenue Veterans Residence, the city's only GPD transitional housing program for single male veterans.
What I witnessed convinced me that homeless veterans are often treated as an afterthought.
While agencies and organizations celebrate military service through ceremonies, speeches, and public events, homeless veterans continue to struggle with violence, untreated mental health conditions, addiction, isolation, and housing instability.
Perhaps the most telling example is how little homeless veterans appear in the public-facing information of agencies responsible for serving them.
The NYC Department of Veterans' Services routinely promotes programs and events, yet homeless veterans are largely absent from its messaging. Likewise, veteran-related pages maintained by the Department of Homeless Services and organizations involved in homeless services often provide limited or outdated information about homeless veterans and available resources.
If agencies genuinely want veterans to identify themselves, they must first demonstrate that identifying as a veteran matter.
Women Veterans and Families Left Behind
The problem extends beyond single male veterans.
Women veterans, veterans with children, and veteran families are often scattered throughout New York City's general shelter system among non-veteran populations. Many have little access to veteran-specific services, peer support, or military-informed programming.
As a result, they become largely invisible within the broader homelessness system. Despite frequent discussions about outreach, New York City lacks a comprehensive veteran-centered shelter infrastructure that brings these populations together and connects them with specialized services.
Mental Health and the Shelter System
For homeless veterans, mental health is not a policy discussion—it is a daily survival issue.
Veterans living in shelters report chronic stress, depression, anxiety, isolation, and exposure to violence. Some veterans report that substance abuse increased only after entering shelter environments. Others have withdrawn entirely from veteran organizations and public life.
Many veterans also describe negative experiences with service providers. While many caseworkers are dedicated professionals, veterans often report feeling judged or dismissed when seeking assistance. Some believe that requests for veteran-specific benefits are viewed as entitlement rather than efforts to access programs earned through military service.
Whether intentional or not, these perceptions discourage veterans from seeking help and deepen mistrust of the system.
A Self-Inflicted Identification Problem
Recognition Without Accountability
Many veterans are also questioning priorities.
While the Department of Veterans' Services has expressed concern about budget reductions, many homeless veterans see greater attention devoted to ceremonies, speaking engagements, and proposed public celebrations than to addressing homelessness and mental health.
Veterans deserve recognition. No one disputes that.
But recognition without accountability is hollow.
A parade may generate headlines. Outreach to homeless veterans may not. Yet only one directly addresses the suffering occurring every day in shelters across New York City.
New Yorkers Deserve Credit
These criticisms should not be directed at ordinary New Yorkers.
Across the city, individuals, businesses, faith groups, and community organizations consistently donate time, money, goods, and services to help veterans. Their generosity demonstrates that public support for veterans remains strong.
The frustration expressed by homeless veterans is aimed not at the public but at systems that often fail to convert that goodwill into meaningful outcomes.
Until homeless veterans, women veterans, and veteran families become a central focus rather than an afterthought, New York City will continue struggling with veteran self-identification, trust, and engagement.
The solution is not another report.
The solution is not more funding from an already stretched thin city budget.
The solution is recognizing the veterans who have been standing in plain sight all along.
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