Fact
About 1 out of 3 of the adult homeless population has served their country in the Armed Services. On any given day, as many as 200,000 veterans (male and female) are living on the streets or in shelters; and perhaps 400,000 more experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year. Unfortunately they will spend the night hungry and alone.
Why are veterans homeless?
In addition to the complex set of factors affecting all homelessness - extreme shortage of affordable housing, livable income, and access to health care, a large number of displaced and at-risk veterans live with the lingering effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and substance abuse compounded by a lack of family and social support networks.
A top priority is secure, safe, clean housing that offers a supportive environment which is free of drugs and alcohol. While "most homeless people are single, unaffiliated men... most housing money in existing federal homelessness programs, in contrast, is devoted to helping homeless families or homeless women with dependant children," according to " Is Homelessness a Housing problem?" in Understanding Homelessness: New Policy and Research Perspectives, published by the Fannie Mae Foundation in 1997.
Click Here to check out a transitional housing program for homeless veterans
Click Here to check out a work program for homeless veterans
