Report: Veteran Homelessness on the Rise [View All]

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,139317,00.html

Report: Veteran Homelessness on the Rise
Military.com | By Terry Howell | June 18, 2007


The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have contributed to a sharp rise in the number of homeless military veterans, a recently completed Congressional Research Service report on homeless veterans says, and lawmakers are beginning to take notice.

The report shows female veterans were as much as four times more likely to become homeless than non-veteran women, with male veterans nearly twice as likely to become homeless than non-veterans.

Though many believe homelessness plagues Vietnam draftees disproportionately, the largest group of homeless vets comes from those who enlisted after Vietnam, the May 31 CRS report showed.

And although experiences in combat and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder are contributing factors to homelessness, studies have "found no unique association between combat-related PTSD and homelessness," the report said.

"Research has determined that homeless combat veterans were no more likely to be diagnosed with PTSD than combat veterans who were not homeless," CRS said.

Since Vietnam, most veterans do not normally become homeless within the first 10 years of separation, the CRS report said. But a December 2006 "Iraq Veteran Project" study prepared by the Swords to Plowshares veterans' advocacy group, troops who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan are becoming homeless sooner than their predecessors - seeking housing services within months after returning from Iraq.

"New veterans are falling through the cracks, and they are shocked and angry at the lack of care afforded them," said Iraq Veteran Project report author, Amy Fairweather. "They stand at the precipice of chronic homelessness unless there is a concerted effort to address their needs."

more...