Where are Our Veterans

More help needed to reduce homelessness for female veterans...

US must do more to reduce homelessness among female veterans
October 17, 2014 ~ Ginger Miller served in the U.S. Navy as a bosun’s mate, receiving a medical discharge for an in-service accident. Although her service skills didn’t readily transfer to civilian life, she never dreamed she’d end up homeless, living on the streets for three years with her 2-year-old son and husband, a former Marine suffering from PTSD who also could not find work.
This snapshot of just one woman, one family, isolated and alone, is emblematic of a persistent national tragedy that is largely preventable and completely unacceptable. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s most recent “point in time” count of homeless veterans found roughly 50,000 on the night in January that it conducted its spot survey. Based on previous full-year estimates, we can safely conclude that there probably are more than 100,000 homeless veterans across America. Of these, an estimated 10,000 of them are female.

For female veterans, homelessness is an especially dire predicament. They are more likely to be divorced and single parents, sharing this extreme hardship with the most vulnerable in our society — young children. And the majority of VA homeless programs lack congressional authority to provide services to spouses and children of veterans. We must end this situation, but doing so can be achieved only through the collaboration of diverse organizations, individuals, talents and resources — in ways we’ve not been able to do — to get these women back on the road to recovery and permanent housing faster. That includes working together to better identify risk factors for homelessness as women transition out of uniform and into the community.

How can it be in America that these intelligent, strong and resourceful women, so honored and respected while in uniform, end up struggling when they return to the civilian community? What obstacles prevent them from gaining employment, obtaining adequate housing and becoming productive members within their local communities — just as they had been before entering the military? These are tough, but extremely important questions that need to be answered if we are to permanently resolve this crisis facing thousands of our female veterans.

Over the last few years, the nation has made some progress in addressing homelessness among all veterans as service men and women returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars swelled the ranks of those without homes. The military, Veterans Affairs, health care organizations, veterans-service and nonprofit organizations have stepped up programs, access, treatment and research. Higher education institutions, such as USC, are conducting much-needed research on methods to identify people with high-risk factors for homelessness before they take off their uniform so they can be followed as they transition to the civilian world.

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