Veterans 50 Percent More Likely To Be Homeless, Study Shows

A new report released today confirms what many Americans have long known: veterans make up a disproportionate amount of the nation's homeless population.

The federal government's first-ever comprehensive Veteran Homelessness study shows that veterans are 50 percent more likely to become homeless than other Americans. Additionally, minority veterans have an even greater chance of ending up on the streets or in homeless shelters.

As part of the national strategy against homelessness, President Obama's administration has set the ambitious goal of ending veteran homelessness by 2015.

The study, published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), uses data compiled from the 2009 nationwide homeless assessment to better understand the homeless veteran population.

A total of 75,609 veterans were found to be homeless on the January 2009 night that the count was conducted. More than half (57 percent) of them were staying in homeless shelters or transitional living facilities, while the remaining 43 percent were sleeping on the street.

Over the course of the year, from October 2008 to September 2009, 136,334 veterans stayed at a homeless shelter or transitional facility at least one night.

That figure means that a staggering one of every 168 American veterans experienced homelessness during that 12-month period.

According to the HUD,

"This report offers a much clearer picture about what it means to be a veteran living on our streets or in our shelters," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "Understanding the nature and scope of veteran homelessness is critical to meeting President Obama's goal of ending veterans' homelessness within five years."

Comments

[Helen In Canada]

09:13 PM on 02/17/2011

Can someone please enlighten me on this? I applaud this initiave, but as I was reading the National Strategy against Homelessness, I noticed no mention on rehabilitation services for those suffering from alcohol & drug addiction. In my honest opinion, these are very serious obstacles for the homeless, and am curious why this problem is not more prominently addressed. Also, the sex trade workers are often homeless, often young and controlled by pimps...this issue is not addressed either. Just a lot of vague overview promises, but not much concrete solutions in there!

[Empower286]

04:42 PM on 02/14/2011

I am all for supporting service-related conditions but unless it is a matter of PTSD or a physical wound or problems reintegrating themselves in civilian life I question whether homelessness has anything to do with being a veteran.

Looking at the pair pictured above I imagine they parted from the service decades ago, perhaps Vietnam. If they do not have service-related problems then why is their homelessness a veteran's issue? Why should special support be given them for this?, all homeless people need help.

The comparison with the general population might be misleading too (50% higher homelessness than the general population). Assuming that enlisted have a different average socioeconomic status they should be compared to that segment of the population. In other words perhaps the sub-population that was drafted or enlisted has about the same homelessness as those who did not serve. If so, it is not an issue particular to veterans.

Again I am proud of and support our veterans and believe we owe them for service-related maladies. I'm glad to give them educational and federal job priority benefits too. What bothers me about this study though is that it smells of a phony "veterans" issue.

[whoknew42]

09:46 PM on 02/13/2011

Hey - thanx for protecting our country!

Now get the hell outta here, you're scaring my customers away!

[mamacat]

06:51 AM on 02/13/2011

When I got out of the service, I think that I would not have survived without the help of friends. Not talking about money, but just being a friend, day and night. I never saw combat, but just being in that environment drove me crazy after awhile. It is very hard to explain. Seeing the suffering on returning vets, helping them, dealing with them, after being around our Dad's PTSD, it just about pushed me over the edge.
I feel a lot of sympathy for vets who can't cope. There but for the grace of God......
I did use the GI Bill to return to college, and VA benefits enabled me to buy my first house, and those things were good.

[whoknew42]

09:49 PM on 02/13/2011

Many on the right would consider the GI bill and VA Benefits to be socialist programs.

The true fight for vets like us begin on the outside of the military.

[unity13]

11:57 PM on 02/12/2011

Bet the recruiter never mentioned this fact when they were pitching to high schoolers.

[jessivehadit]

06:40 PM on 02/11/2011

Soldiers 99% more likely to be killed or injured in war.

Stop signing up for the military!
That being said, I think returning soldiers should be given priority, help, assistance and free education.

The military is destroying this country and we ned to put an end to it.

[mamacat]

06:53 AM on 02/13/2011

Our military spending is destroying this country, but not the soldiers who are in the military.

[jessivehadit]

02:10 AM on 02/14/2011

Of course.

That is beside the point and doesn't contradict my statement, confirm my statement...or really pertain to my statement.

"If we do not end war - war will end us. Everybody says that, millions of people believe it, and nobody does anything." ~H.G. Wells

[kokobell616]

06:33 PM on 02/11/2011

I have seen politicians on both side of the isle claiming to support the troops. Standing in the halls of congress proclaiming their never ending support for veterans. Of course the next sentence is how American families need Government off their backs. Naturally you cut spending for veterans to do that.
Having said all that. It breaks my heart to even consider the possibility that it could happen. For all the support the troops-ism, Wear the Flag pin-ism, Patriot-ism I have been cudgeled with these last few years. I knew some of it was Bullshit. Now I find myself thinking most of it was campaign slogans. Shame on the people who let this happen. Shame on me!

[snapshot1940]

05:20 PM on 03/10/2011

May those hypocrites burn in Hell. I can't even start to verbalize my feelings toward those who sent our military into pointless but profitable wars and then ignore them once they return. God bless the war protesters!

[BlairCase]

12:34 PM on 02/11/2011

Posters should take time to follow the link and read the full report. According to the report veterans fair better in civilian life than those who never served: "Veterans have higher median incomes than the general population­­, and their poverty rate is half the rate of the total U.S. population (6 percent compared to 13 percent)." You will also notice that the homeless numbers are based on homeless people "who identified themselves­" as veterans. No one has check to see if they actually were veterans.

[Mike Anton Bidner]

08:34 PM on 02/11/2011

So since we're (Veterans) all doing so great, nothing to see or do here, right?

[Charles Hamel]

10:00 AM on 02/11/2011

Patriotism has come to mean: you believing your country is great, and that you love war. In essence, it's been conflated with nationalism.

It shouldn't part of being patriotic incorporate dealing humanely with the consequences of sending human beings into war?

There is an ugliness about military conflict that I find Americans rarely appreciate. They can't appreciate the realities of war because it is not accessible to them; for example, "The media template for covering the war in Iraq was less Vietnam and more the NBA playoffs". They view war through the lens of the occupiers, that is at best heavily filtered in the media.

Men and women are being sent to war, experiencing horrific events, and they are not the better for it. "Suicide claims more US military lives than Afghan war", and, as far as I know, those are underreported.

The myth of war is a powerful social instrument. Facts can never support it, but the myth continues to have a great influence on how people have come to conceptualize war. My suspicion is, that to adequately support Veterans, it would require the public to concede to an unpopular narrative which values the truth about war.

Truth, who's absence has made it possible to mobilize the public for war.

[sheeple herder]

04:57 PM on 02/11/2011

You marginalize the individuals that don't subscribe to the bumper sticker definition of patriotism. There are plenty of service members as well as countless public servants that genuinely believe in what they are doing and are doing great things not only for this nation but for other nations abroad. I also think that you need to talk with veterans. I can tell you right now that none of them "love war", they simply experience it so others do not have to. They understand that there is a perverse necessity of war that maintains a higher order.

You are right though, our government does not take the steps necessary to prevent our veterans from falling to the wayside. We send people into situations that drive some mad, but fail the properly identify those in the ranks that are of risk. We treat them once identified until they are "well", then release them to a VA system that is under-funded and under-staffed. We read news articles instead of petitioning congress to fix the problems.

We do need a more inclusive conversation as to the horrors that war brings. Only then will the conversation of how to care for those that have experienced it truely begin. Then maybe some of those with a distorted idea of patriotism will have their eyes openned.

“The day this nation can’t afford to take care of her veterans is the day this nation should quit creating them.” - Richard Eubank, VFW national commander

[levresamant]

08:51 AM on 02/11/2011

As Obama is poised to promote deep cuts in everything for the poor, it is just a matter of time before cuts come to Veterans.

[TheTXI]

02:12 PM on 02/11/2011

My mother has been an RN at the local VA Medical Center for almost 20 years now. Luckily she decided to make the decision to go ahead and take retirement a year early and get out now.

[Mike Anton Bidner]

08:40 PM on 02/11/2011

But thus far, only Tea Party starlet Michele Bachmann has proposed ANY cuts to the VA and to diabled Vets" compensation. I believe Ms. Bachmann is a Republican. You can take it further and look at the post 9/11 GI Bill, proposed by Democrat Jim Webb of Virginia, which was initially opposed by the GOP, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) calling the education benefits for Veterans "too generous". The problem with FACTS is that there are only one set. I know who's looking out for Veterans, and just because the GOP has produced the most Veterans, does not mean they care about us. At all.

A disabled Iraq Vet.

[jws2346]

05:33 AM on 02/11/2011

UnF**kingBelievable

[themarine]

05:02 AM on 02/11/2011

I wonder what conservatives would say if we spent money to help our homeless VETS.......oh let me guess...the conservative motto is EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!!!!

[Tarackian]

04:08 AM on 02/11/2011

Supporting the troops indeed.

[aspiecelia]

03:02 AM on 02/11/2011

There are lots of people who have invisible problems which keep them from functioning in society. Mental illness or physcial illness. There are many who can't get a diagnosis yet are very ill and can't work. I have seen homeless people in wheelchairs who can't walk around yet without a definative diagnosis can't get social security help. This is just so wrong. There are ways to provide shelter and mental health treatment should be provided.

[jws2346]

05:37 AM on 02/11/2011

faved What's uber sickening is these twerps NOT supporting our troops!

[Debbi Mihelic]

02:06 PM on 02/11/2011

Completely agree with you, mental health help is such a huge issue, it frustrates me too as someone with a mental disability.