Veterans Day may have come and gone, but today, like every day, Mark Alston-Follansbee will carry on his own personal veterans mission: combating veterans' homelessness in Greater Boston and Somerville. It's an issue he understands well. Follansbee is both the director of the Somerville Homeless Coalition and a Vietnam vet, who traveled a difficult path, himself.

In January 2010, 153 Somerville households were identified as homeless, according to an annual Census count conducted by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). That puts the individual count at about 200-300.

"But I never think of that as a very accurate count," said Alston-Follansbee. "HUD chooses the coldest time of the year—the third Wednesday in January—to do the count, and anybody who's smart is going to find someplace safe to be so that they are not outside."

"And HUD's definition of homelessness doesn't include people who are doubled and tripled up [in other's homes]," added Alston-Follansbee. "If you count those people, the number in Somerville and across the country would probably double."

Veterans make up a disproportionate number of the homeless

While just 10 percent of the U.S. population, veterans account for 15 percent of homeless persons, according to the U.S. Veterans Administration.  The exact number of homeless vets in Greater Boston and Somerville is not known. But for Alston-Follansbee, the desired goal is zero.

"According to the Veterans Administration, on any given night 107,000 veterans are homeless. That's way too many. Not that we should be surprised that they are homeless because of the effects of what war has done to them," he said during an interview at the Coalition offices. "If there's a common denominator of what causes people to become homeless, it's people who are abused and neglected and traumatized, and many vets are traumatized."

Drafted at 19, facing the consequences for life

Alston-Follansbee recognizes the emotional wounds vets bear because he has them too. At 19, he was drafted into the army and a few months later, in March 1969, he found himself in Vietnam, which he describes as a "dangerous, chaotic hell."

"You're afraid for your life every waking moment and just what that does; you have to give up your feelings to survive. It's not safe to feel anything. You operate on instinct. And then, when you come out of that, it's not like you can just flip a switch and start feeling again, because you—or I—had stuffed all this fear inside.  It took its toll on me. It took its toll on others," he said.

After his discharge, Alston-Follansbee and a fellow vet found themselves so uncomfortable in society that they took over an abandoned house deep in the Hawaiian forest. Alston-Follansbee stayed for six years.

"My friend is still there. So it's over 40 years later and it's only in the last couple of years that he's been able to start to understand his own trauma from Vietnam and start to go to the VA for help," said Follansbee as tears welled up in his eyes. "That's how far we fled from our feelings."

But it wasn't until the mid '80s that his own post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) re-flared. After about a decade of stability, the chance viewing of Vietnam battle footage brought everything back.

"I thought I was OK, and suddenly there I was in 1984 freaking out," he said. "My girlfriend said, 'You've got to get some help.' So I did. I've been in therapy for 26 years…. To me, it's a direct result of the trauma that I experienced that made my life so unstable for so long."

It also drove him to work with the homeless and, in particular, homeless vets.

Finding fellow vets living on the street put Alston-Follansbee on a new path

In 1985, Alston-Follansbee moved to Boston. When panhandlers approached him in the parks, he found himself in conversation with them because he said, "something about them felt familiar."

"It turned out that most of them were veterans. I got angry that they were homeless because they were veterans. So I've been doing this work since," he said.

"When I started this work, about 25 percent of all individuals who were homeless were veterans, and most of the homeless veterans were World War II guys who have now died. But younger vets have died too. Some were on the streets for 20 or 30 years," he said. "It's not easy to live on the streets. It takes its toll on you."

Last year, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced a plan to end veterans homelessness within five years. The Somerville Homeless Coalition is using every resource available to aid in reaching that goal.

Veterans are often referred to the agency because Greater Boston homeless service providers know Allston-Follansbee's skill and interest in the issue.

Finding homes and accessing benefits for vets is key

Once at the Coalition, caseworkers get to work assisting vets on several levels. They locate temporary shelter and help vets apply for monthly veterans benefits (about $1,100). Next, they help them seek aid from VASH, the Veterans Administration Supported Housing Program, which is a housing subsidy for vets similar to section 8 housing subsidies. Vets can use the subsidy to cover two-thirds of the rent of an affordable apartment. They cover the other third with their benefits or earned income.

"Housing is the answer to homelessness. We give these people a home and that, in a lot of ways, is the medicine they need," said Allston-Follansbee. "We have a number of vets in our permanent housing program that are doing really well, some of whom were on the streets 20 plus years, who were chronic substance abusers, who are now doing really well. With stable housing and counseling, most have been able to end their substance abuse or minimize it."

One vet waiting for home after 8 years of homelessness

Terrance Rothman speaks German fluently, dresses smartly and is extremely erudite. A voracious reader, he spends most of his days devouring heady tomes at the library. Nights are the problem. Most nightly shelters do not allow guests to stay more than few days at a time. Meanwhile, the effects of his paranoia disorder have caused Rothman to be banned from most area long-term shelters.

"I've been in all the shelters in the area. Each night when it gets dark, I think about what my options are. I think about where I can sleep reasonably well and where I haven't been banned from because they say I don't follow the rules, and then I go to see if they have a bed for me," said Rothman.

Rothman, who served during but not in Vietnam, has been homeless since 2002. At that time, he gave up his apartment in Germany to return stateside to be with his dying sister. She spent two years in a hospital. He spent those years, and since, on the street. Right now, he is waiting to find out if he will get his own apartment supported by VASH.

"I have an $11,600 veterans pension. It's the only income I have. So I'm excited about getting an apartment, but I'm also anxious about some of the things I might not be able to adjust to," said Rothman. "I'm glad the program will provide a social worker who will mediate if there are problems and seek reasonable accommodation."

But despite a fear of transitioning back to apartment living, Rothman is hoping his Cambridge apartment will come through. "It would be nice to have some privacy," he said. "When you are homeless, you can never be alone."

Worries mount about Iraq and Afghanistan vets

"People in the military are doing three, four and five tours in the military today. If I got as screwed up as I did on a one-year tour, just imagine what this is doing to people with multiple deployments," ," said Allston-Follansbee. "PTSD can sometimes take up to 20 years to appear in vets. They'll have families and jobs, and 20 years later they fall apart."

"It's going to be much less time for these people who have multiple deployments to start feeling the effects of their trauma," he added. "I hear about these kids coming back now and asking for help and not getting it and they're killing themselves. The VA doesn't have the resources to help them."

He notes that suicides and death caused by trauma-induced substance abuse are not new for vets. "We know that after Vietnam, more veterans who served in Vietnam have died from substance abuse and suicide than died during the war itself," he said.

An alternative to Veterans Day

Alston-Follansbee respects why other veterans gather for ceremonies on Veterans Day. But he can't bring himself to join in.

"Veterans Day is not an easy day for me. I'm very angry about what happened to me and to others," he said, his voice cracking from grief. "It's important to recognize veterans' service and their contribution, but at the same time from my perspective, the way we honor veterans is to find a way to prevent war so we don't keep making veterans in the future. I would like people to work for peace."

In the interim, the Coalition will continue to work to shelter homeless vets, including the 3 percent who are women. The success stories help them keep going.

"We have one fellow who was on the streets for 25 years. Because of his trauma, he started drinking. Drinking cost him his job. Then he lost his family. Now he's in his own place. To hear the gratitude is amazing," said Allston-Follansbee. "He comes in every week and we just talk Patriots or Red Sox. To know that he's off the streets and has a safe place where he can close the door is very gratifying."

To donate, volunteer, or organize a canned food drive for the Coalition's food pantry, please see the Somerville Homeless Coalition website for contact info.

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Homelessness in the United States: The most recent government estimate of homelessness in the United States, the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR), put the number of homeless at 1.6 million for the year ending in Sept. 2008. Most homeless advocates estimate the number at roughly 3.5 million, and all agree the recession has driven significantly more persons into shelters and onto the streets since the 2008 AHAR count. 

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Além do Feriado, Homem Local Combate Falta de Moradia Entre Veteranos Todos Os Dias

Nota da Tradução: A tradução atual é um trecho da matéria original. Cheque novamente mais tarde para a versão completa.

O feriado de Dia dos Veteranos chegou e passou, mas hoje, como todos os dias, Mark Alston-Follansbee continuará sua missão: combater o alto índice de falta de moradia entre veteranos em Somerville e Boston. Follansbee é o diretor do Somerville Homeless Coalition, grupo dedicado à população sem-teto. Ele também é veterano da guerra do Vietnam.

Em janeiro de 2010, 153 famílias em Somerville foram identificadas com sem-teto, de acordo com o censo anual conduzido pela Departamento de Moradia e Desenvolvimento Urbano (U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, ou HUD). O número de indivíduos é mais ou menos 200-300.

"Nunca penso nesse número como correto," disse Alston-Follansbee. "O departamento conta o número de pessoas sem moradia em janeiro, um dos meses mais frios do ano. Claro que, os espertos, vão achar qualquer lugar para ficar durante o inverno."

"O departamento também não conta como sem teto as pessoas que moram em casas super lotadas," ele adicionou. "Se fôssemos contar esse número, a conta provavelmente duplicaria."