Female veterans twice as likely to be homeless

From Philadelphia's monthly newspaper “One Step Away”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs released the second annual veteran-specific supplement to the Annual Homeless Assessment Report  http://www.hudhre.info/documents/2010HomelessAssessmentReport.pdf .

The point-in-time count of veterans experiencing homelessness rose 1 percent to 76,329 last year.  The report suggests that female veterans are twice as likely as their non-veteran counterparts to experience homelessness.  Poor female veterans are three times as likely to experience homelessness as their non-veteran counterparts living in poverty.  In fact, it can be said that military service heightens the American woman’s risk of experiencing homelessness.

The report also found that African Americans are strongly over-represented in the homeless veterans population.  African Americans make up only 10 percent of the veteran population, but make up approximately 35 percent of the homeless veteran population.  Latino/Hispanic veterans constitute 12 percent of the homeless veterans population but only 8 percent of the veteran population.