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Carroll and guest Calvin Griffin bring us up to date on the situation at the U.S. Vets facility at the YWCA in Honolulu. The U.S. Vets/YWCA is taking federal money for 20 beds, but so far, after 5 or 6 months in operation, they have only 6 clients. U.S. Vets is now talking about evicting one of them, Tina Quizon, because she filed several complaints against the organization. The U.S. Vets/YWCA facility says one, among many of the "reasons" she is being evicted, is because "she stole" from the program [apparently two coffee creamers from the refrigerator they noted from a review of video surveillance]. Tina complained to Tulsi Gabbard, who claims to be a big supporter of vets. Tulsi has done photo ops with Darryl Vincent, but has not looked into the real situation and has not contacted Tina.
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Congresswoman Gabbard hangs out with Darryl Vincent but won't help women vets he is accused of harrassing
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Carolyn Golojuch calls in to tell us she talked with a homeless person leaving the facility. That person was turned away from the program and told to come back later, even though there are 14 open beds. Carolyn also points out that the vets contribute to the program and Tina's situation is a travesty.
Carroll and Calvin have been discussing the issues with Darryl Vincent, the National COO and head of the local U.S. Vets in Hawaii. He agrees there is a lack of transparency in the program, but will continue to investigate and take action against any wrongdoing by the staff. The investigation includes an ipad stolen from a client, reportedly by a staff member. Allegedly, the ipad was returned with everything erased by the shelter staff in order to protect someone.
Carroll asks how a nonprofit vendor (U.S. Vets) that provides a service to the federal government can act in such a manner. The reason we see so many veterans on the street today is because of how they are treated in the programs that are supposed to help.
(Listen to our show of April 7, 2013, for the original discussion).
