Homelessness Among Veterans: Causes, Challenges, and Solutions

Defining the Homeless Veteran

Each year, thousands of citizens wind up homeless and living on the streets in America, as well as all over the world. The issue of homelessness in the U.S. has become widespread, especially within the last few decades. Homelessness does not discriminate based on personal caliber, since any unexpected event or poor decision can leave a person without shelter with very little warning. Some people who become homeless lose so much more than just a home. They lose connections to family and the outside world. They lose physical objects that connect them to their past. In many cases, they lose a sense of belonging, and sometimes even their identity. Many within the homeless community were once heroes who fought for America's freedom throughout wars, both past and present. They are the homeless veterans — often passed by, overlooked, and simply ignored by the everyday population that encounters them on the street.

This paper analyzes the reasons for homelessness among veterans and examines the issues, difficulties, and stigmas that homeless veterans face in finding and being placed in housing programs. It seeks to answer several questions: What qualifies a person as a homeless veteran? What is the history of homelessness among veterans? What circumstances have made a large portion of the veteran community homeless? Are more programs available to the veteran homeless community than to the regular homeless community? Is the veteran homeless community stigmatized more than the regular homeless population? What obstacles do female homeless veterans face compared to male homeless veterans? Are older homeless veterans stigmatized more than younger homeless veterans? What programs are in place to help homeless veterans find permanent or temporary housing, and how can veteran homelessness be prevented? Are there certain risk factors that can be identified to prevent veterans from becoming homeless?

Montgomery, Fargo, Byrne, and Culhane (2013a) enumerate relevant statistics: approximately 12% of the adult homeless population is comprised of veterans. Approximately 40% of homeless veterans are Hispanic or African American, even though these groups account for only 3.4% and 10.4% of the total U.S. veteran population, respectively. Homeless veterans are younger, on average, than the total veteran population. About 9% are aged between 18 and 30, and 41% are aged between 31 and 50 years. By contrast, only 5% of all homeless veterans are between 18 and 30, and fewer than 23% are between 31 and 50 years old. But even as these statistics are examined, what exactly qualifies someone to be referred to as a homeless veteran?

Ami Rokach (2004), in his discussion of the causes and consequences of homelessness, identifies American homeless veterans as those who served in World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Panama, Grenada, the Persian Gulf War, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the military anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America. Any man or woman who served in these conflicts and now lacks a permanent home qualifies as a homeless veteran.

History of Veteran Homelessness in America

In order to qualify for assistance under the homeless veterans program, which is governed by Title 38 of the U.S. Code, veterans must meet the formal definition of a homeless veteran. The term contains two layers of definition. According to Tsai, Mares, and Rosenheck (2013b), the first component defines "veteran" as anyone who served in active military, naval, or air force service and was not discharged dishonorably, for purposes of Title 38 benefits. The second component holds that veterans are considered homeless if they meet the definition of homeless individuals codified under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. About half of all homeless veterans served during the Vietnam era, two-thirds served for at least three years, and about one-third were stationed in a war zone.

Historically, many fighters in the U.S. have ended up homeless. It is well established that wars often lead to homelessness in the territories where combat occurs. Armed forces veterans have had firsthand experience with homelessness, and in the United States this phenomenon dates back to the colonial period, when rising numbers of vagabonds were noted in urban areas at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. According to Montgomery, Fargo, Byrne, and Culhane (2013b), by 1784 the number of homeless people was increasing at an alarming rate, most noticeably in cities. The post-Civil War era witnessed even more significant growth in homelessness. During this era, homeless veterans would sing old army songs to dramatize their need for work, which led to them being called "tramps" — a word derived from the act of marching off to war.

After World War I, thousands of veterans, many of them homeless, camped in the nation's capital demanding bonus payments. The government destroyed their camps, causing a major public relations disaster for President Herbert Hoover. The end of the Vietnam War coincided with a period of economic restructuring following the conflict, succeeded by a severe economic recession. Many of those who had fought in Vietnam were also the individuals most affected by the loss of manufacturing jobs. Montgomery (2013b) notes that by the 1870s, homelessness among veterans had been identified as a national issue, with many war veterans riding the rails and congregating in cities, most of them having sustained physical injuries and psychological trauma during their service.

As Tsai, Edens, and Rosenheck (2013a) highlight in their research on chronically homeless adults, the transition of veterans to life on the streets was deeply traumatic, and their problems grew more aggravated and chronic as they aged. By the 1870s, deepening economic recession prompted most cities to create new anti-vagrancy legislation. By the 1970s, modern homelessness had emerged as a serious social phenomenon, with a significant proportion of men sleeping outdoors in major cities identified as armed forces veterans. Many suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, and physical disabilities resulting from their combat experiences.

According to Chinman, Hannah, and McCarthy (2009), by 2011 approximately 76,000 veterans were homeless on any given night, and within that same year an average of 136,000 veterans may have experienced homelessness. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has estimated that 250,000 veterans are homeless nationwide, and that as many as half a million veterans experience homelessness over the course of a year — representing around 2% of all living American veterans.

Circumstances Leading to Veteran Homelessness

The increased incidence of homelessness among veterans is primarily a result of combat-related disabilities and trauma, as well as the government's failure to provide adequate housing assistance benefits for low-income and disabled veterans. VA disability benefits and other public benefits have failed to provide appropriate housing assistance, reaching less than 10% of the estimated number of veterans who experience homelessness each year, as noted by Metraux, Limin, John et al. (2013). Given the high prevalence of mental illness and other disabilities among homeless veterans, there is a strong need for supportive housing that includes on-site support services for veterans living with mental illness and other disabilities.

Tessler, Rosenheck, and Gamache (2002b), comparing the circumstances of homeless veterans and homeless people from other backgrounds, note that in addition to the complex set of factors affecting all homelessness — including extreme shortage of affordable housing, insufficient income, and lack of access to healthcare — a large number of at-risk veterans also live with the lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse, further compounded by a lack of social and family support networks.

Elbogen, Sullivan, Wolfe, and Wagner (2013) identify the difficulty of achieving financial stability after military service as another major contributing factor to veteran homelessness. Military occupations and the training veterans undergo are not always transferable to the civilian workforce, placing veterans at a disadvantage when seeking employment. Physical and psychological injuries further reduce employability. Veterans also face barriers such as unstable employment, difficulty budgeting, limited financial literacy, poor financial decision-making, and lack of material security — factors that exist independently from any formal mental health diagnosis.