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Study: 1 Out of 4 Homeless Are Veterans

"Clearly, I don't think that's going to totally solve the problem, but I also don't think we're simply going to wait for 10 years until they show up," Dougherty said. "We're out there now trying to get everybody we can to get those kinds of services today, so we avoid this kind of problem in the future."

In all of 2006, the National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that 495,400 veterans were homeless at some point during the year.

Vietnam veteran Lonnie Bowen Jr. smokes a cigarette outside the The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007. A new report scheduled to be released Thursday shows nearly a half-million veterans were homeless last year. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke - AP)

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The group recommends that 5,000 housing units be created per year for the next five years dedicated to the chronically homeless that would provide permanent housing linked to veterans' support systems. It also recommends funding an additional 20,000 housing vouchers exclusively for homeless veterans, and creating a program that helps bridge the gap between income and rent.

Following those recommendations would cost billions of dollars, but there is some movement in Congress to increase the amount of money dedicated to homeless veterans programs.

On a recent day in Philadelphia, case managers from Project H.O.M.E. and the VA picked up William Joyce, 60, a homeless Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair who said he'd been sleeping at a bus terminal.

"You're an honorable veteran. You're going to get some services," outreach worker Mark Salvatore told Joyce. "You need to be connected. You don't need to be out here on the streets."

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Associated Press writer Kathy Matheson contributed to this story from Philadelphia.

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On the Net: National Alliance to End Homelessness: http://www.naeh.org/

New Directions: http://www.newdirectionsinc.org/

Project Home: http://www.projecthome.org/

County of Lancaster: http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/

Veterans Affairs Department: http://www.va.gov/

U.S. Vets: http://usvetsinc.org/

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