Number Of Homeless Female Veterans More Than Doubled In Four Years: Report

The number of homeless female veterans is on the rise, and the Department of Veteran Affairs isn't adequately prepared to handle it.

In four years, the number of homeless veteran women more than doubled -- rising to 3,328 in 2010 from 1,380 in 2006, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

But even as more veteran women are becoming homeless, the VA still isn't prepared to deal with it, the report found. Nearly a quarter of VA Medical Center coordinators surveyed for the report said they didn't have plans to temporarily house homeless women while those women wait for housing in other programs aimed at housing homeless veterans.

The VA "does not have sufficient data about the population and needs of women veterans to plan effectively for increases in their numbers as servicemembers return from Iraq and Afghanistan," the authors wrote in the report. "Further, without improved services, women -- including those with children and those who have experienced military sexual trauma -- remain at risk of homelessness and experiencing further abuse."

The report also found that nearly two-thirds of homeless female veterans are between the ages of 40 and 59 years old, many of them living with children. That's an especially large problem, seeing as 60 percent of the VA's Grant and Per Diem Programs that serve homeless women -- an effort that gives community agencies funding to provide veterans with services -- don't house children.

Overall, homelessness among veterans dropped 12 percent during the year-long period ended in January 2011, the Obama administration said last month. Still, the issue of homelessness among veterans looms large. There are more than 67,000 veterans living on the streets and veterans are 50 percent more likely to be homeless than the average American.

In addition, homeless veterans are more likely to die on the streets than their non-veteran counterparts and tend to remain homeless for longer periods of time, according to another recent study.

Veterans are also having a tougher time than ordinary Americans navigating the job market once they return home. The veteran unemployment rate was 13.1 percent in December compared to the national jobless rate of 8.5 percent, according to the Department of Labor.

The situation is especially dire for young veterans: One in three veterans between the ages of 18 and 24 is unemployed.

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Comments

[MsLadyBlueWorld]

10:40 PM on 01/26/2012

you would think after all these people that went out of their way to fight and defend this twisted country that they would have more better benefits than this there is no reason why they should end up homless after that. It's so sad to see women and men homeless after there contribution to this country it's already bad enough that they don't get the proper mental care after all they've been through now this makes you reconsider your decision for going to the service

[Karma2U]

03:01 PM on 01/26/2012

Sounds like a great opportunity for a corporation that got rich off the American middle class and those who fight their wars for oil, to employ many skilled Americans here in the USA.

[CASnyder]

05:06 AM on 01/26/2012

And there is also a glut of vacant foreclosed homes, too. Maybe the fed should go to those banks who took a bailout and tell them they are going to open the doors on some of those foreclosed homes to homeless vets & their dependents since they've not been able to sell the homes or rent them otherwise. I'll bet a lot of those banks might discover they could suddenly rent or sell those homes at a loss if the alternative was to allow the use of them for free, but some might choose to let vets move in. Either way it would give vets a better chance at decent housing.

[ginadeoliveira2008]

08:12 PM on 01/25/2012

No one should ever have to come from a war to find oneself homeless. This is a real unacceptable shame. A country does not do that to its veterans. Shouldn't there be an institutional way to solve that?!

[MsLadyBlueWorld]

10:42 PM on 01/26/2012

you got that right i don't understand it my uncle just came out of iraq this year and now he has all types of health problems

[ginadeoliveira2008]

10:55 AM on 01/27/2012

I'm very sorry to hear that. It's an incredibly though transition. Veterans do need all kinds of support, from family, friends, and most surely from their government to be able to adapt to civilian life

[Candi Cj Dubord Jensen]

06:56 PM on 01/25/2012

Ya, and just try getting help if you're a homeless vet. Female or Male. It just isn't there or it is covered in layers of red tape. I was homeless with my daughter she was 5, and my ex wasn't paying child support. My veteran's disability doesn't go far enough to cover rent, and I had just lost my job at the time and then lost my apartment. SMH Politicians talk about taking care of the Veterans they so callously used and then threw away, but they never do. Our healthcare is another system cluttered with red tape and BS. Talk, talk, talk...never do.

[April22]

02:25 PM on 01/25/2012

How much poverty,misery, and death must Americans endure for what our federal government and its military would like us to believe is a war on terrorism, while the US remains the #1 arms exporter - merchant of death on the planet?

From 2006 to 2010, the US accounted for nearly one-third of the world's weapons exports, and by 2010, the US had increased global arms sales to account for 53% of weapons traded that year - more than $46 billion to 62 countries:

"Afghanistan to Yemen, and weapons platforms ranging from F-15, F-16, and F-18 combat jets to M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Cobra attack helicopters (sent to our Pakistani comrades) to guided missiles in all flavors, colors, and sizes: AAMs, PGMs, SAMs, TOWs -- a veritable alphabet soup of missile acronyms. Never mind their specific meaning: they’re all designed to blow things up; they’re all designed to kill."

In December of 2011, the Obama Administration expressed intent to sell nearly $11 billion in weapons to Iraq.

" Few in Congress oppose such arms deals since defense contractors provide jobs in their districts -- and ready donations to Congressional campaigns."

While America slips ever closer to 3rd-world status, with an ever-increasing number of Americans plunged into poverty, jobless, homeless, and going hungry, just think of the Pentagon having $81.4 billion to spend in research and development of more weapons of death and destruction.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175493/tomgram

[Trustfunded1]

11:39 AM on 01/25/2012

McDonalds is hiring.

[grapost]

09:13 AM on 01/25/2012

Hey homeless Veterans have been a problem for the last 40 years, starting with the Vietnam War era.

But that's not considered news since it was only MEN.

Now that FEMALES veterans who are becoming homeless, NOW all of sudden it's newsworthy and a problem.

I'm sure the Feminist Groups will start making alot of noise about this. Funny how when it was only Male veterans who were homeless for the last 40 years who had served on THEIR behalf, they didn't give a CRAP about!

Oh, but it's not Sexist when Women do it!

[HAMesmer]

06:12 PM on 01/25/2012

I only disagree with you because I have worked with homeless male vets in a men's shelter. It was a big deal to me (as a woman, btw) that they were hurting.. There are those of us who cared, still care, and will always care about the men and women who served. And there are those of us who also ACT on that compassion and help. Bless you.

[Prankster]

07:45 AM on 01/25/2012

This is an absolute disgrace! These people put their lives on the line for this country VOLUNTARILY and this is how they are repaid when they get back home? What a disgrace!!!!!!!

[StopMakingSense2]

01:28 PM on 01/25/2012

If you consider not having better economic choices than military service voluntary! The plutocracy declares the wars the little people go die in them. No wonder we are involved in so many and are allowed to drag on so long! Yes it's a disgrace.

[Genders]

10:42 PM on 01/24/2012

Sadly, "homeless" has no meaning anymore.

http://oldtimer.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/houseless-and-homeless-not-same-thing/

[clearasmud]

07:48 PM on 01/24/2012

Homelessness may look like a patchwork of people with different stories from different backgrounds, but a few basic reasons explain the majority of homelessness in the United States. Many people without permanent dwellings fit into more than one of these categories. A lack of affordable housing, mental illness, and general poverty are the primary reasons for homelessness, and other reasons tend to be related to these three basics.

Read more at Suite101: Primary Reasons for Homelessness: Lack of Housing, Mental Illness Top List | Suite101.com http://brandi-rhoades.suite101.com/primary-reasons-for-homelessness-a71488#ixzz1kQVeJnEy

[JoeMomma]

07:21 PM on 01/24/2012

It is really disgraceful, and it says a lot about us as a nation.

[WI Patriot]

06:50 PM on 01/24/2012

Im sorry, but no where in the Veterans Administration's services is there "Provide housing for Veterans"

Where are the non-profits? Its about time they earn their non-profit status.

[Bob Metcalfe]

08:02 PM on 01/24/2012

Maybe there should be. In my country my father, who fought in world war two lives in a pretty much fully subsidided veterans' home.The way you seem to treat your veterans ought to be a national scandal. That it's not says more about Americans than the problem itself.

[Prankster]

07:46 AM on 01/25/2012

Wow, what a patriot you are! I bet you've never even served!

[Chazz280V]

06:18 PM on 01/24/2012

What a dаmn shame.

[stoptherobbery1]

06:16 PM on 01/24/2012

Majority of the population don't care about veterans.