Veterans

Risk Factors for Veteran Homelessness

The first national study of homelessness among U.S. veterans was based on survey data gathered in 1987. Forty percent of homeless men reported past military service, compared with only 34 percent of men in the general population. Further analyses confirmed that veterans were 1.4 times as likely to be homeless as other men, and that approximately 200,000 were homeless on any given night.

By far the greatest risk of homelessness was among those who served in the post-Vietnam all-volunteer army from 1972 to 1980. These men were about four times as likely to be homeless as their non-veteran peers. In contrast, veterans in the age group that served during the Vietnam period were only 1.4 times as likely, matching the overall average. World War II–era veterans had a slightly lower rate: They were only nine-tenths as likely to be homeless as non-veterans. These data indicate that combat exposure is not the strongest determinant of homelessness among veterans of various war eras; indeed, post-Vietnam veterans had the least combat exposure but the greatest risk of homelessness. Rather, the key factors seem to be related to their premilitary experience and status. World War II veterans are a highly representative cross-section of their age group in the society at large. So are Vietnam veterans, partly because of deliberate policies to make the draft as fair as possible. In contrast, veterans of the all-volunteer force have been shown to have more psychiatric and substance abuse disorders than non-veterans [Page 588]in their age group. Many seem to have entered the military because they lacked desirable options in the civilian labor market. Moreover, negative public opinion on the Vietnam conflict made military service unpopular and recruiters could not be selective in the post-Vietnam era.

A homeless veteran makes his away along a street in midtown Manhattan in October 2003 with his possessions piled in a grocery cart

Karen Christensen; used with permission.

This finding was replicated in two subsequent studies, one based on data from the Shelter-night survey in the 1990 census, the other on a 1996 national survey. While the gap has diminished, veterans are still twice as likely as non-veterans to be homeless, by these measures of the 1990s. This risk is far higher than was observed among veterans of the Vietnam era and before.