Coming Out of the Shadows: Women Veterans and Homelessness

Date Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Category: Housing/Experiencing Homelessness - National

The four-part series titled "Coming Out of the Shadows: Women Veterans and Homelessness" introduces readers to women who volunteered to serve in the military and who at differing points in their lives experienced homelessness. The links to the three articles preceding this fourth "bonus" article, are noted in the last paragraph of this article.

Root causes are explored, agency knowledge and accountability examined, support services highlighted, and pragmatic resources and research references linked, offering valuable insight to potential prevention and intervention opportunities. The author found that there are differences between female and male veterans' circumstances leading to unstable housing and/or homelessness (why and when) and their remediation choices once in need of housing. There are ongoing challenges with accounting for and tracking homeless veterans within federal, state, and community institutions, adversely impacting accurate collection of data. Because homeless women veterans do not typically present in the same service provider venues as homeless male veterans, they are less likely to be accounted for and served. Without a clear understanding of the prevalence of veteran homelessness, funding and services will not follow. Finding housing alternatives continues to be a major barrier.

A housing locator tool is embedded in the fourth article of this series (WomenVeteransHousing.com) specific to women veterans. Information about housing resources can be submitted online.

Read the full article at: The Huffington Post