Introduction
There has been a decade-long federal commitment to prevent and end homelessness among
U.S. military veterans. Substantial progress has been made; so, a question that stakeholders
ask is: Is veteran homelessness still a problem?
Methods
To answer this question, 2 different data sources were analyzed in 2020: (1) a nationally
representative community survey of 4,069 veterans conducted in 2019 and (2) national
administrative data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on >6 million healthcare
and homeless services in 2019.
Results
In the community sample, the lifetime prevalence of adult homelessness was 10.2%,
with the highest prevalence found in participants aged 30–44 years (19.9% prevalence).
In the Veterans Affairs administrative data, 4.2% of all Veterans Affairs service
users used homeless services (n=290,515 Veterans Affairs homeless services); 27.9% of these were first-time Veterans
Affairs homeless service users. Veterans who were racial/ethnic minorities were more
likely to report any lifetime adult homelessness, more likely to be identified as
homeless in Veterans Affairs records, and more likely to have used any Veterans Affairs
homeless program. There was no sex difference in the lifetime prevalence of homelessness,
but Veterans Affairs records showed that male veterans were more likely to be identified
as homeless and to use homeless programs, suggesting possible underidentification
of female veteran homelessness. Across age, sex, and racial/ethnic groups, 35.1% of
Veterans Affairs homeless service users used emergency department services in the
same year.
Conclusions
There is a continued need to dedicate resources to address veteran homelessness across
sociodemographic groups, and these data serve as a benchmark before and after the
onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: February 11, 2021
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
