Veterans Day – 2025 – Part Two

by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner

The Hidden World of Homeless Veterans – Part 2

The court system loves to kick people when they are down

Union County, GA: Al volunteered for the United States Army in 1982 after graduating from high school. He is now 46 years old. He was part of a prestigious Fire Intelligence Unit, while in the Army.  Despite the fact that he had a Top Secret clearance, he only rose to the rank of Corporal because the U.S. Army had a MOS freeze on promotions to Senior Non-Commission Officer.  

He received an honorable discharge in 1991. He is now deaf in the left ear and partially deaf in the other due to being near an explosion while in the service, and therefore is eligible for some veteran disability payments.

After leaving the Army, Al rose up in the ranks in the construction industry.  He was part of the team that restored a building on Fifth Avenue in New York City.  In 1999 he moved to Georgia because of the construction boom going on, but soon was appointed a youth counselor at the mega-church, he attended.  He married in 2001. They had a daughter in 2003.

He and his wife divorced in 2004. It was his wife’s sole decision to file for divorce. She didn’t think that he made enough money to fund her dreams and had met somebody else. The child support payments assigned to Al by the Georgia court were based on the relatively high income he made as the owner of a contracting company.

In early 2007 the construction industry collapsed in Georgia.  As the available projects declined, Al’s company increasingly was underbid by companies utilizing undocumented foreign workers.  Simultaneously, Al became increasingly unable to pay his bills, including the child support payments.  Al’s world was falling apart. He became depressed and considered suicide after losing his wife.

Later in 2007, a routine police traffic roadblock stopped Al’s car.  He was asked if he had any illegal or prescription drugs on him.  He honestly answered “yes” because a friend had given him a prescription anti-depressant.  Al didn’t realize that the single pill was a serious matter.   The pharmaceutical company that manufactures it has spent over $180 million in advertising the drug on TV and even in such prestigious magazines as National Geographic.

However, Georgia politicians, in particular, District Attorneys, have run on “Get tough with drugs” campaigns for two decades.  Al also could not afford an attorney.  The court appointed attorney urged him to plead guilty, as if it was a minor traffic ticket.  Al was shocked when the judge sentenced him to five years in probation and a $1600 fine.  He now had a criminal record.

Al spent some time in a state mental health facility in Rome, GA to make sure he was completely free of suicidal thoughts.  However, he was unable to pay child support while hospitalized. 

A judge suspended his driver’s license as punishment for not being able to pay child support while in the mental hospital, then sentenced him to jail for non-payment.  With no car and a jail-time record, Al found it impossible to find steady work.  Therefore, he was unable to pay his child support and drug-related fine once again and again was sent to jail.

Al was homeless during this period of his life.  He spent the winter of 2009 in a maritime shipping container.  He also spent periods of time in the National Forest.  Al said that he would be homeless now, except that he met someone (a woman,) who agreed to split the rent cost of a small apartment.  His construction tools have been stolen, so he is no longer able to do construction contracting. 

He currently is living off of disability payments and trying to find work that will get his child support and court fine debts current.  Al complained that the Veteran’s Administration refused to classify the constant ringing in his ears as explosion related, but did not blame the VA on his current impoverished status.

The villains are in the state court systems

What the interviews with homeless veterans have revealed is that although there are complaints about waiting too long for treatment of combat-related injuries, the primary causes of their homelessness are the Recession and a spider’s web of state laws, which kick people when they are down. 

Since the year 2000, Georgia’s laws have increasingly created legal environments in which only the wealthy can obtain justice, while those who can’t afford attorneys are made helpless.  The 2006 General Assembly sacked most of the state’s consumer protection laws and made it extremely easy for mortgage companies to foreclose on houses.  The new laws almost immediately created an avalanche of foreclosures and bankruptcies which spread outward to other states.  By mid-2007 a full blown recession was underway in the state.

The most illogical laws passed by the Georgia General Assembly (and many other states) were those associated with the “Down with Deadbeat Dads” movement.  Legislators wrote laws which assumed that everyone was as affluent as them. 

When the economy collapsed, thousands upon thousands of conscientious fathers lost their jobs, couldn’t pay child support and then were made into criminals by the Georgia laws.  The law only allowed review of child support every three years.  The affluent could afford attorneys to challenge excessive child support judgments, while those who needed relief from courts the most couldn’t do anything – and usually were sentenced to jail time.  The simultaneous suspension of driver’s license made it almost impossible for these jailed dads to ever find a decent job, which could fund child support payments.

Al’s primary complaint is that many of Georgia’s laws were written by lawyers to subsidize the incomes of lawyers and pay salaries of court clerks, while “the little people” are pushed deeper and deeper into poverty.  To be fair, most states have child support laws similar to those of Georgia now.  As one vet told the writer, “If you are vet these days,  you make one strike and then the laws are set up to quickly make you do strike two and strike three.  After that you will be in a hole until the day you die.”

Federal programs may in the future improve the availability of affordable housing for veterans, but the root causes of their poverty are in regional economic situations and state legislation.  Until criminal justice programs began to be more realistic and compassionate in their assessment of child support payments, there will continue to be homeless veterans.