By Sergio Flores  |  [email protected]

I am a Daily Iowan photographer pursuing a project exploring the lives of homeless veterans in Iowa City. However, it felt imperative to bring their stories out of the shadows on this particular day.

After the Veterans Day observances subside today, Michael McNamara will go to bed cold.

Not just chilled. Truly cold.

And as the weather dips down into the low 40s, made worse by a potential thunderstorm, McNamara and his fellow homeless veterans likely will reflect on their services, their homelessness, and how the two ideas exist together.

“Mike, were we useless in the war?” one homeless veteran asked McNamara, a Vietnam veteran and Iowa City native who is also homeless, on Nov. 7.

According to records from Hawkeye Area Community Action Program official Dusty Noble, there were 67 self-identifying homeless veterans in Johnson County in 2014, a majority of whom are in Iowa City.

Those veterans, like McNamara, sleep on benches or in sleeping bags.

Officials have not have not found a place to house this winter’s temporary homeless shelter. Mark Sertterh, resident services director for the Shelter House, 429 Southgate Ave., said officials are close to a location for a temporary winter shelter but could not give more details.

“See, I am a part of this community, even though I’m homeless, and they want to label me as useless,” McNamara said.

It’s a growing concern for the community, and more notably, for thosewrapped in blankets.

“Mike people are dying, it’s getting cold out,” a slurred voice said to McNamara, who considers himself to be the liaison for many in Iowa City’s homeless community.

There are roughly 50,000 homeless veterans across the country, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The coalition says there are several reasons veterans are at-risk for homelessness, including shortages of affordable housing, access to health care, as veterans can suffer from, PTSD. The disorder, combined with the possible inability to cope with the normalcy of civilian life after being in a war, can cause lead to alcohol and substance abuse.

There are organizations both nationally and locally trying to combat the issue. The Department of Veterans Affairs has programs that provided changes for veterans to return to employment and offer safe housing.  In 2013, the secretary of Veterans Affairs awarded more than $700,000 for homeless prevention in Johnson County, as well as four others.

And nationwide, between 130,000 and 200,000 veterans will go without shelter tonight.