The Oklahoma Bar Journal February 2025

M ilitary & V eterans

A Home for the Brave in the Land of the Free A Discussion About Unique Housing Challenges and Resolutions for Service Members and Veterans

By Teressa L. Webster

A BRAHAM MASLOW INTRODUCED THE WORLD to his “hierarchy of needs.” It is a pyramid that illustrates basic human needs, with the most important needs forming the base of the pyramid. Dr. Maslow identified shelter as a physiological need. Physiological needs are essential to human survival. When basic survival needs are unmet, most other human needs are unfulfilled.

or the threat of homelessness. This is such an unequal return for their great sacrifices. “No per son who has served this country should ever experience homeless ness,” said U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough. 4 Although they “should never have that experi ence,” unfortunately, many do. THE SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL RELIEF ACT (SCRA) 50 U.S.C.A. §3901, et seq. In 2003, President George W. Bush signed into law the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The SCRA is an extension of the Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Civil Relief Act, which Congress enacted in 1940. The stated purpose of the SCRA is:

As of September 2023, the popu lation of the United States consisted of 2.86 million service members. 1 In 2020, roughly 18 million veterans lived in the U.S. 2 As of 2022, 244,334 veterans lived in Oklahoma. 3 As of December 2023, 18,737 active duty service members and 20,300 National Guard and Reserve members call Oklahoma home. Excluded from those numbers are thousands of spouses and children who share in the sacrifices of the service members. Undeniably, heroes live among us in large numbers and in plain sight. They beat insurmountable odds, and many bear visible and invisible scars from those victo ries. Yet, many battle housing chal lenges, including homelessness

1) to provide for, strengthen, and expedite the national defense through protection extended by this chapter to servicemembers of the United States to enable such persons to devote their entire energy to the defense needs of the Nation; and 2) to provide for the tem porary suspension of judicial and administrative proceed ings and transactions that may adversely affect the civil rights of servicemembers during their military service.

50 U.S.C.A. §3902 (1)-(2) The SCRA protects service

members 5 and their dependents. Service members are individuals who are currently enlisted for

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

26 | FEBRUARY 2025

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL