Senators: Nearly 10,000 homeless vets in NYC area

[Renew Deal]

The number of military veterans who are homeless in the New York City metropolitan area is nearly 10,000.

That's according to Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

The Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday that support programs for homeless veterans face funding shortages.

They say military members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are falling into homelessness sooner than veterans of earlier conflicts. The senators say many suffer from severe psychological trauma.

Citing 2008 federal data, Schumer and Menendez say between one-fourth and one-fifth of the country's homeless are veterans.

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/senators-nearly-10-000-homeless-vets-in-nyc-area-1.1580115