Abstract
Utilizing a social justice framework, a comparative analysis determined which social justice values and philosophies most effectively guide policies that address the social problem of veteran homelessness. First, we explore the United States’ policy approach addressing veterans who are homelessness across various historical eras. This is followed by an international comparison examining the current policies of Australia, the United Kingdom, and Italy in addressing homelessness among veterans. We found that policies among these countries are still anchored in a reality that no longer exists for them—that of mandatory service for all adult males. United States’ current policy is alone (among those studied) anchored in the existing reality of an all-volunteer force, enabling the country to adopt policies strongly guided by notions of a right to housing. It is such policies, primarily guided by the notion of rights, which effectively address the social problem of veteran homeless.
Highlights
The United States (U.S.) Department of Veterans Affairs (DOVA) is entrusted with the development of programs and policies to provide care for over 20 million veterans of the U.S armed forces who have served honorably
Results when attempting to compare current U.S policy addressing veteran homelessness with policies from earlier U.S historical eras and with other countries, there is a dearth of statistics available on veteran homelessness
As recent as 2015, 47,725 U.S veterans who served their country honorably were classified as homeless (U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2015)
Summary
We seek to inform advocacy efforts aimed at confronting the serious social problem of homelessness among veterans. We do not take the typical route of seeking to accomplish this goal, by offering a detailed analysis of current policy in order extol the strengths and point out areas for improvement; the section describing current U.S policy does not contain an exhaustive list of current DOVA policies. We take a broad, conceptual examination of social justice values to determine which are best suited to guide policy when addressing the social problem of veteran homelessness. We hope to provide a platform upon which advocates may see areas on how to improve current policy, and to view the best route for shaping and forming new policies to address this social problem
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