down range and home again: how the next mayor can help nyc"s veterans

7/27/2019 Down Range and Home Again: How the Next Mayor Can Help NYC"s Veterans

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DOWN RANGE AND

HOME AGAIN

A BRIEFING PAPER ON CREATING A NEW DIRECTION FOR

MILITARY VETERANS IN NEW YORK CITY


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With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God givesus to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nationswounds, to care for him who s hal l have borne the batt le and for his wid ow and h isorphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among

ourselves and with all nations. Abraham Lincolns Second Inaugural Address,March , 4, 1865

This briefing paper was created and complied by Joseph A. Bello with the assistance of EdwardM. Daniels, II; along with input from a number of local veteran leaders, military family membersand supporters in the New York City area. Special thanks to Lee Covino, Joe Graffagnino,Michael Kim, Joe Mondello, Doug George, Robert (Bob) Greene, Cal Snyder, Dan Rossi, DonMacIver, Ruben Pratts, Will Weder, Vicki Bello, Dino Garcia, Samuel E. Farrell, II and AmyMansicalco. We would also like to thank The Food Bank of New York City andCity Limits. Formore information or to discuss, please contact Joe Bello at:[email protected].

Veterans Crisis Line (1-800-273-8255, press 1)http://veteranscrisisline.net/The Crisis Line, mandated by the Joshua Omvig Veteran Suicide Prevention Act of 2007, provides immediate supportto veterans, service members and their families.

July 8, 2013
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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INTRODUCTION

Serving in the United States Armed Forces demands exceptional bravery, strength andcourage, not only from the men and women who serve but from their families at home.

As Americans we owe all veterans our support and assistance in helping them access

the support and resources they need in order to make the successful transition fromservice to life at home.

New York State has the fourth largest veteran population in the United States withnearly one million residents who have served the nation (including over 67,000 womenveterans who volunteered to serve) and is the third largest military state with 90,000residents who are in service. Almost 12,000 service members are deployed from NewYork State at any given time (although this number is rapidly decreasing), with themajority coming from the New York City area.

Because of the large and diverse population of servicemen and women, New York State

offers a variety of veterans assistance programs, including property tax exemption,educational assistance for certain veterans and their family members, a state veteransnursing home program and the recently signed into law New York State Drivers licenseprogram, which will allow an individual to indicate if he or she is a veteran of the UnitedStates Armed Forces.

Although military operations in Iraq officially concluded in 2012, the United States hasbeen engaged in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) for over a decade, and we are stillsending troops into harms way even as we move to conclude operations in Afghanistanby 2014. Therefore, New York City needs to continue to assess the needs of thoseveterans who are already home, those who have just recently returned home and thosewho will be returning. The next administration will have to better advocate on theirbehalf and create policies and programs that will help them avoid pain and distress asthey transition back to their local communities within the five boroughs.

NEW YORK CITY VETERANS

According to the United States Census Bureaus 5-years estimates from 2007-2011;there are approximately 224,096 veterans throughout the five (5) boroughs with themajority population being Vietnam Veterans. These numbers break down as follows:

County (Boroughs) Veterans

Bronx 37,866Kings 54,941New York 47,282Queens 62,591Richmond 21,416Total: 224,096


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Out of these total numbers, more than 18,000 New York City residents have beendeployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan.

Active Duty Reserve Total

Bronx 2,145 1,265 3,410

Kings 3,575 2,065 5,640New York 1,742 912 2,654

Queens 3,301 1,839 5,140

Richmond 826 439 1,265

Total: 11,589 6,520 18,109

Note: 40% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from New York State have been deployed by the NationalGuard and Reserves, compared to 22% nationally. Also, these numbers do not indicate how manyindividuals have had multiple deployments overseas.

RECOMMENDATIONSWith this being an election year for Mayor of the City of New York, the currentlandscape regarding veterans and the issues surrounding them presents an opportunityfor the next mayor to be progressive and show real leadership in assisting the citysveterans population.

Therefore, the primary intent of this briefing paper is to educate the mayoral candidatesto better understand some of the major concerns and issues as they pertain to militaryveterans in New York City. Secondary, we wish for each candidate to commit to the listof recommendations enclosed within this paper. Our belief is that each mayoral

candidate not only commit to these items (in principal) and use them as the baseline oftheir veterans platforms (both online & in print); but will address these issues shouldthey be elected Mayor.

(1)MAYORS OFFICE OF VETERANS AFFAIRS (MOVA)______________Because of the reported issues, problems and frustrations with the Mayors Office ofVeterans Affairs over the past 12 years, the next mayormust commit to a total top-to-bottom sweep of the entire office (including a new Commissioner, DeputyCommissioner, etc.) and make significant changes to ensure that a more pro-activeleadership will re-build bridges with the entire veterans community as well as with

federal, state and city agencies. This must also include a top-down review of the office,its mission and responsibilities as dictated within the City Charter, its current fundinglevel and how to best accomplish establishing services, outreach and leadership to thecommunity.

Recommendation: Clean the entire house at MOVA and bring in personnelwho will provide a more pro-active leadership for the veterans community in New

York City.


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(2) NEW YORK CITYS VETERANS ADVISORY BOARD (VAB)__________The nine members of the citys Veterans Advisory Board (VAB) are charged withadvising the Mayors Office of Veterans Affairs (MOVA) Commissioner on all mattersconcerning veterans in New York City, as well as helping to set city policy that aids

veterans.

In 2006, the City Council passed & Mayor Bloomberg signed into law Intro. 0233-A.This law was aimed at strengthening the role of the board by mandating them to meet atleast four times a year, submit an annual report of activities to the Mayor and Counciland allowed for the removal of members for cause if they are not preforming theirduties.

However, even with these changes the Veterans Advisory Board has beendysfunctional, with no organized or public schedule of meetings, no transparentcommunication with the community they are supposed to represent and a lack ofcoordination between both the community and the current administration.

There has been no measure of accountability in how and when the board meets withthe community in their respective boroughs, who they report to with issues, how thoseissues make it up the citys chain of command or even how the public can give input tothe board. The lack of any published minutes, including the required annual reportbeing made available to the public (online or anywhere), has also contributed to theproblem.

Another issue is the current terms of appointment of the members. Because of the oddnumber of years (three) in appointments, there has been a continued re-appointment ofthe same individuals for years, with changes only coming when someone resigns from

the board. This has also contributed to the board being stagnant and becoming a littlemore than resume filler.

The next Mayor (in conjunction with the next Speaker and with input from the newCommissioner) must work together to ensure that the board is completely revamped, isin compliance with New York States Open Meetings law and follows through on itsduties as defined in the City Charterto advocate in the best interests of New York Citysveterans community.

Recommendation: Work with the next Speaker to make full and newappointments to the board. Support legislation that would change the term ofappointments from 3 years to 2 so others will have an opportunity to serve.

(3) VETERANS EMPLOYMENT / JOBS & TRAINING__________________With the economic collapse in 2008 and the current downsizing of the military, there is amajor need for employment amongst both older and newer veterans. Because militarymembers are removed from the local employment environment for years at a time, it ispossible that returning veterans are disenfranchised as a group, particularly whenprovisional workers are hired by the city.


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Unemployment Rates in New York City by County

As indicated by the chart below, all New York City counties but one experience higherrates of unemployment for young veterans than the state.

County VeteranUnemployment Rate18-34 Years Old

VeteranUnemployment Rate35-54 Years Old

VeteranUnemployment Rate55-64 Years Old

Bronx 14.5% 13.0% 8.5%

Kings 9.6% 9.5% 8.6%

New York 17.2% 10.4% 7.4%

Queens 14.6% 7.5% 8.7%

Richmond 21.2% 4.7% 7.0%

NYS 12.8% 7.1% 6.3%

Note: Nearly 7,000 post-9/11 veterans were unemployed from 2007 2011. (Source: NYS Senator JeffKlein)

The city charter, Section 814, Parts (13) (14) (15-A) and (15-B-7) provides employmentemphasis programs for women and minorities, but not for veterans. Therefore, aninitiative to include veterans in these areas or special emphasis should be considered.This can be started with New York Citys Department of Small Business Services (SBS)helping to develop a component to help those veterans who are looking to start up asmall business.

The next Mayor should also consider creating a point person for veterans employment

as there are currently a number of city agencies, non-profit organizations and veteranorganizations that work to help assist veterans with employment. This point person canbring these groups together to better facilitate assisting veterans in finding employment.

Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) program

This past January Mayor Bloomberg signed into law Intro. No. 911, which helpedstrengthen the Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) program bybuilding on the achievements of Local Law 129, passed in 2005. Local Law 129 helpedincrease the number of M/WBE firms certified to participate in the Citys program from700 to more than 3,500, with certified firms winning more than $3 billion in City

contracts.

The city's M/WBE programs has been around for over 22 years now, so the time is rightto add veterans to these successful programs and resources as they return en massefrom the pending drawdowns. New York City needs to lead the way in creating such aprogram for veterans. The State would more than likely follow, as it did when thenMayor David Dinkins set up the first M/WBE program throughout the five boroughs.


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With New York City being a tight rental market, it would be beneficial for veterans whoare at risk of becoming homeless (couch surfing) or are living in sub-standard housingto have affordable housing options. Previous reports from federal agencies have statedthat up to 75% of veterans in supportive housing come from emergency shelters,transitional housing or the streets. As a result, supportive housing has become a major

focus of federal resources as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (along with theDepartment of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) and other federal agencies) moveto try and eliminate veteran homelessness by 2015.

While we recognize that the issue of veteran homelessness is primarily a federal one,the next Mayor must play an important role in better addressing the housing needs ofveterans (particularly those who are disabled) and their families, as well as singlefemale veterans with children by supporting both federal, state and city efforts to provideboth supportive and affordable housing options in order for veterans to live and remainin their communities. These policies should be reflected in any housing initiativesthrough not-for-profit organizations and Requests for Proposals (RFP).

Recommendations:

- Increase and work to ensure that current laws regarding the number of city-sponsored affordable housing units (80/20 program) are protected and enforced.

- Work with real estate developers to specifically target veterans for affordablehousing through its New York City Affordable Housing Resource Center; as wellas provide a long-term plan on housing options for low and moderate individualsand families.

- Continue Mayor Bloombergs 2006 policy of giving veterans a 30 percentpreference for homes taken in foreclosure by the federal government that arebeing restored by the city and other agencies.

- Work to expand New York City Housing Authoritys (NYCHA) HousingAssistance for Relocation and Transitional Services (HARTS) program. Theinclusion of veterans in this category can potentially assist those veterans whoare either at risk or becoming homeless, or who are returning from active dutywith few housing options.

- Help bring NYCHA into compliance with Civil Service Law Section 85, which

grants veterans preference in housing. As NYCHA is a public housing agency(PHA); organized and funded primarily through federal and state programs, therequirements for income eligibility and admission preferences for PHAs arebased on federal and state law. Section 156 of New York States Public Housinglaw allows veterans and the families of veterans who served in the Armed Forcesbetween 1961 and 1975 and were injured or killed as a result of this service tomeet less stringent income eligibility standards for public housing then for otherpersons or families of low income (Note: This law needs to be updated to bring


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the current wars into inclusion). Further, under Title 24, CFR, Section 960.206,NYCHA has the authority to adopt a system of local preferences forselection offamilies admitted to the public housing program.

(6) VETERANS COURTS_______________________________________Men and women in the United States military endure high costs of service. The impactof military service on veterans can be immense and long-lasting. These may includealcohol and substance abuse, mental illness (PTSD & TBI), homelessness,unemployment, and strained relationships. With the increase of veterans with seriouscharges in the criminal justice system, comes the need for the system to developinnovative ways of working to address these issues.

Created in Buffalo, New York, veterans courts take veterans whose arrests may haveresulted from mental or substance abuse problems arising from military service andsteer them (in most cases, particularly those with misdemeanors) toward treatment

programs. Based on drug and/or mental health treatment courts, the court provides ameans to successfully help veterans by diverting them from the traditional criminal

justice system and providing them with the tools they need to live a productive and lawabiding life through treatment, rehabilitative programming, reinforcement and judicialmonitoring.

Currently, the King and Queens District Attorneys offices have veterans courts; withthe Community Court in Midtown Manhattan recently opening up one for misdemeanorsonly and the Bronx District Attorneys veterans court coming on-line in November of2013.

More information on veterans courts and what they do can be found at:

http://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Problem-Solving-Courts/Veterans-Court/Resource-Guide.aspx

Recommendation: Support policies and help create funding in the city budgetfor District Attorneys to keep and expand veteran courts to all five (5) boroughs.

(7) OTHER VETERAN RECOMMENDATIONS_______________________

a. Create a central or borough-based New York City depository for militarydischarge papers (DD-214) for easier access to benefits and entitlements by veteransor their dependents. Create a law that safeguards an individuals DD-214 (dischargepapers) for up to 50 years after they have passed away.

b. Re-fund the NYC Veterans Resource Center Initiative. This was one of the mostsignificant and beneficial projects/initiatives that was funded by the New York CityCouncil from 2008 through 2010. These centers were front line entities in providingservices to returning veterans and their families as well as to veterans of different eras.Each resource center was uniquely qualified and specialized in a veteran related issue
http://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Problem-Solving-Courts/Veterans-Court/Resource-Guide.aspxhttp://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Problem-Solving-Courts/Veterans-Court/Resource-Guide.aspxhttp://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Problem-Solving-Courts/Veterans-Court/Resource-Guide.aspxhttp://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Problem-Solving-Courts/Veterans-Court/Resource-Guide.aspxhttp://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Problem-Solving-Courts/Veterans-Court/Resource-Guide.aspx


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(e.g.; housing, legal issues, education, counseling, etc.). At the present time there arefew organizations or agencies that provide certain much needed services to veterans.One such service is discharge upgrades, which is currently only accomplished by theIncarcerated Veterans Consortium, Inc. and one other agency. There is a tremendousneed within the city for expansion of these personnel at these organizations for VA

benefits services and representation of VA claims. These organizations provide theadvocacy for veterans that are limited, thus compounding the adjudicating backlog ofveteran claims.

c. Veteran Vendors. While we recognized that the state legislature addressed thisissue a number of years ago, the Bloomberg administration has dropped the ball by notworking with or hearing the concerns of the disabled veteran vendors community. Thiswould have allowed the administration and more importantly, the Commissioner for theDepartment of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to make more informed and fair decisionsregarding these vendors instead of just adhering to local media, BIDs and other groupsby lumping disabled veterans with both first amendment and illegal vendors.

At issue is that the city discriminates against disabled veteran vendors because of thetwo classes of vending licenses. A 40% disabled veteran who has a blue license wouldallow him or her to vend in the midtown core, while a 100% disabled veteran vendorwith a yellow license cannot. This has been seen as unacceptable and segregatesveterans without the degree of disability - in essence creating two groups of disabledveteran vendors that compete and fight each other.

With an estimated 322-disabled veteran vendors in New York City (as well as a DCAwaiting list), we recommend that the next mayor either direct the Department ofConsumer Affairs to create a veterans committee within its agency to come up with a

fair and equitable process for veterans OR work alongside the Councils ConsumerAffairs and Veterans Committee to create a policy that would create oversight that isfair and allows disabled veterans vendors to earn a decent living. We recommend thatall mayoral candidates review City Council Intro. 447/2006 Disabled VeteranVendors Bill.

d. Homeless Veterans.

No veteran should be sleeping on the streets or in shelters in New York City. Our City and our countryowe a debt of gratitude to our veterans, and those who have had the misfortune to become homelessdeserve our help to get back on their feet.Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg

The next administration must to do a top to bottom review of all Department ofHomeless Services (DHS) programs currently in place for homeless veterans, includingcurrent partnerships. We recommend the next Mayor consider creating an interagencyworking group (headed by someone within DHS to bring together the large number ofcity agencies, federal agencies, non-profit organizations and veteran organizations thatwork to help assist veterans with homelessness. This point person can bring thesegroups together to better facilitate streamlining programs and assisting in finding


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housing while maintaining current partnerships/relationships between federal, state andlocal agencies.

Also, DHS is required by law (NYC Administrative Code Section 21-310) to determinethe number of homeless veterans that have entered the city shelters. As such, we

strongly recommend that DHS publicly identify, track and publish the number ofhomeless veterans in the city system within their Critical Activities Reports (CAR). As ofnow, DHS no longer breaks down its unit bed counts in terms of specific populationsgroups. This information was in their CAR reports as recently as 2008 but is no longerprovided. As a result, the estimates on the number of homeless veterans in New YorkCity shelters vary widely depending on the source. Having accurate data from DHSwould be useful in determining the scope of need.

Lastly, we recommend asking Are you a Veteran?in DHSs yearly HomelessOutreach Population Estimate (HOPE) study.

e. Fine/Tax exemptions. We ask the next administration to support exemptions forviolations of the Smoke Free Air Act of 2002, Department of Health food safetyinspections, Department of Building inspections, and FDNY inspections and replacethem with education and outreach efforts to ensure safety and compliance within allveteran establishments (Veteran Service Organizations Posts & Buildings). We alsorecommend exempting these establishments from fees for Certificate of Occupancy orLetter of No Objection issued by the New York City Department of Buildings; OperatingCertificate issued by NYC Department of Buildings and Food Handlers Permit issued bythe Department of Health for certified Veteran Service Organizations (VSO).

f. Buy-Back. Support passage in the State Legislature of the Veterans Buy Back bill

(currently A.6974 & S4714) for all veterans who honorably served, regardless ofwhether they served in war, conflict or peacetime.

g. SNAP program. In November of 2011,The Food Bank of New York report, From theFront Lines to the Bread Lines: Food Poverty Among Veterans , showed that 25 percentof all households with a military veteran in New York City are experiencing difficultyaffording food. This special report revealed that veteran households are making a rangeof sacrifices in order to make ends meet. That more than 1 in 10 are unable to buy foodbecause of rent or utilities; with many more reducing the quantity and quality of foodthey are purchasing. Further, the data from the Food Bank showed that more than onethird of veteran households would not be able to afford food for their families withinthree months of losing their household income. Therefore, we recommend the nextMayor support expediting SNAP applications for veterans and their family members.

down range and home again: how the next mayor can help nyc"s veterans

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