The Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and
Veterans Affairs (VA) have cooperated on another initiative toward their mutual
interest in housing with the publication of Veteran Homelessness: Supplement to the 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment
Report to Congress.
According to the joint assessment, nearly 75,609 veterans
were among the homeless counted in the one-night 3,000 city tally conducted in
January, 2009. Approximately 43 percent
of the veterans counted were living on the street, in abandoned housing, or
other areas unfit for human habitation and the remaining 53 percent were housed
in shelters. Over the course of the
entire year an estimated 136,334 veterans spent at least one night in a shelter
or transitional housing. This is one of
every 168 veterans in the country.
Veterans are overrepresented in the homeless community. While only 8 percent of the U.S. population
is a veteran, they made up 12 percent of all homeless persons and 16 percent of
the adult homeless on the night of the nationwide count and 10 percent of those
who were homeless at some point during the year.
Homeless veterans are mostly men between the ages of 31 and
50 and with a disability. They are
mainly alone; 96 percent of them are homeless as individuals; only 4 percent
are with families and those are most likely to be younger, female, and without
a disability. Veterans under 30 and
females represent only a small portion of the homeless but their numbers are
growing. One in ten veterans living in
poverty is also homeless and 25 percent of those veterans are Hispanic/Latinos and
another 25 percent are African American.
Homeless veterans tend to congregate in densely populated
urban areas in numbers far out of proportion to their numbers in the general
population; 72 percent are located in central cities compared to 31 percent of
veterans in the general population. The
homeless are also concentrated in four states with almost half located in
California, Texas, Florida, and New York, states in which only 28 percent of
all veterans live.
The veterans in shelters tended to get there from another
homeless situation rather than from housing - either their own or that of a
friend or family member. In 2009 25
percent came from an emergency shelter or transitional housing and 21 percent
from the streets or an unsheltered location. They did not stay in shelter very long, but
longer than non-vets. The median stay
for veterans who were on their own was 21 days in shelter and 117 days in
transitional housing compared to non-veterans who were in shelters and
transitional housing for 17 days and 106 days.
Veterans in families had a median shelter stay of 30 days and 175 days
in transitional housing.
This is the second joint venture between HUD and the
VA. Last June they announced the
expansion of the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program in which HUD provides
rental assistance to veterans with outreach and supportive services provided by
the VA. The program will ultimately
invest $75 million in the program which is planned to serve over 7,700 veterans
and their families.