Va Benefits and Services

Veterans Benefits and Services 1

Running Head: Veterans Benefits and Services

Veterans Benefits and Services

Columbia College

HUMS 310B Military Casework

Professor Galya J. Taborn, LCSW, BCD

January 26, 2012

Veterans Benefits and Services 2

Veterans Benefits and Services

Veterans receive many benefits and services based on their service to our country, but what makes a person eligible to receive these benefits? According to Rod Powers (n.d)

there is no standardized legal definition of "military veteran" in the United States. You see, veteran benefits weren't created all at one time. They've been added one-by-one for over 200 years by Congress. Each time Congress passed a new law authorizing and creating a new veteran benefit, they included eligibility requirements for that particular benefit. Whether or not one is considered a "veteran" by the federal government depends entirely upon which veteran program or benefit one is applying for.

This being said, veterans from all branches of the service have programs such as homeless veterans, minority veterans, women veterans. Veterans also enjoy benefits such as home loans and life insurance and Education.

Homeless Veterans: The Department of Housing and Urban Development and VA Support Housing are doing a lot to help homeless veterans. Homeless veterans are provided with section 8 vouchers which they use for inexpensive apartments. These veterans are also given access to case management programs. These programs offer the veteran assistance finding permanent housing. An estimated 67,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, NCHV.org (2012). The majority of these prior service members have mental illness, and (or) substance abuse problems. These veterans either voluntarily or involuntarily gave to their country and it is good that there are services like this to assist them when they need it most.

Center for Minority Veterans: As of a 2010 Defense Equal Opportunity Management...