Phoenix mayor spends night with homeless vets

PHOENIX — Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton got a firsthand look at how some of the local homeless veterans spend their evenings.

Stanton checked into the MANA (Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force) House Thursday night, and spent time listening to the stories and struggles of some of the 70 homeless vets who are looking for work.

“Sometimes if we actually spend a little more time with the veterans we realize the skills sets the employers are looking for does match the employment these guys have had in the military,” Stanton said.

Stanton slept in a bunk bed, and shared the room with six other veterans.

“There were a lot of veterans of even the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they come back here and they feel like they don’t have the support right now,” Stanton said.

Last year, the mayor established the H.E.R.O initiative, an effort to hire the estimated 16,000 homeless veterans in Arizona.