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07/04/2009
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Staff photo by Joe PhelanFrom working with shelters to "aggressive street outreach," Tague has tried to help those who, for a variety of reasons, do not have permanent shelter.
As the Homeless Veterans' Coordinator at the Veterans Affairs hospital at Togus, the 42-year-old Winthrop woman is on a mission to meet the federal government's goal of having no homeless veterans.
"I'm very passionate about it," she said.
The federal veterans affairs office is the country's largest provider of homeless services, said Togus spokesman Jim Doherty. In Maine, 467 veterans were identified as homeless in 2008, according to statistics compiled by MaineHousing.
That doesn't include everyone.
"There's a significant number of homeless vets that are in cars, trucks, tents, substandard housing," Tague said. "We don't have the number. We just know anecdotally because of the phone calls we get."
Officials at Togus have worked with those doing homeless surveys to ask questions to include all veterans, even if they have not been in combat. Doherty said rather than asking people if they are veterans, they need to be asked whether they have ever served in the armed forces.
"If they don't say they are a vet, we don't know," he said.
Togus has three people dedicated to helping homeless veterans. While Tague is the coordinator, Susan Whittington works with a grant program and Wendy Thomas-Blais works with a Housing and Urban Development program.
Rough figures show 10 percent of all homeless people in the United States are veterans, Tague said. Like the general homeless population, homeless veterans often face financial trouble, mental illness and drug abuse problems.
But for veterans, there are services in place if they are able and willing to receive the help, Doherty said.
"There are some who are not going to take advantage of it due to their cognitive problems," he said.
Tague, who spends most of her time in the field talking with homeless veterans, said part of her job is establishing a relationship first, then moving on to explaining the types of help that are available.
Others who are homeless always had health insurance through an employer, so they never took advantage of the veterans' health care system.
Doherty said he's worked recently with laid-off mill workers who didn't know they could call on the VA for help, homeless or not.
At Togus, which is located east of Augusta, there are five emergency shelter beds available for short term stays. In other parts of the state, such as Biddeford, veterans affairs works with different groups to provide housing to homeless veterans, Tague said.
In Waterville, there's a five-bed permanent housing program for veterans who are recovering from substance abuse issues, she said.
In addition, the veterans administration has 35 housing vouchers to help cover the costs for those who want to live in other areas of the state.
There's no typical profile of a homeless veteran, Tague said.
"In Maine, we see veterans from all periods of military service," she said.
Most are men. Last November, at an annual event held at Togus to provide services to homeless veterans, only two of the 65 veterans who attended were women, Doherty said.
Tague, who got her undergraduate degree from Grinnell College in Iowa and master's degree from Smith College in Massachusetts, said more affordable housing in Maine would go a long way toward reaching the goal of eliminating homelessness.
"My hope would be in 20 years we will figure out a way," she said.
"What we would have to have is more housing than we have now to solve the problem of homelessness, not just for veterans, but for all the homeless in the U.S."
Having said that, Tague said veterans need to have services that "serve the total veteran," which includes mental health, substance abuse and financial issues.
"It's sort of striking the balance between making sure all the resources that are needed are there, and help veterans feel they are empowered to make the decision to be able to maintain stable housing," she said.
Susan Cover -- 620-7015
scover@centralmaine.com
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