The Department of Veterans Affairs is experiencing information technology glitches so severe that GI Bill benefit payments covering education and housing have been delayed for months or not delivered at all.
“I’m about to lose everything that I own and become homeless,” 29-year-old U.S. Army veteran and current college student Shelley Roundtree told NBC News. “I don’t want to be that veteran on the street begging for change because I haven’t received what I was promised.”
Now living on his sister’s couch with all of his belongings in a storage facility he can’t afford, Roundtree says his delayed housing stipend led to him losing his apartment. He told NBC he now chooses between taking public transportation to school or eating and often goes to bed hungry.
“It’s just confusing,” said Roundtree. “Who is there for us? Who is representing us? Who is helping us? Who is doing what they need to do to better the situation for veterans?”
The VA’s technical capabilities, or lack thereof, are being blamed for the backlog of unpaid veterans. The exact number is unknown but as of Nov. 8, more than 82,000 were still waiting for their housing payments, according to the VA, but hundreds of thousands are believed to have been affected in some way.
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