This articlenotes the astounding (to me) fact that 1/3 of the US homeless population are military veterans. It offers no specific causal reason for this fact.
Why are there so many military veterans among the homeless? The ratio is far higher than the ratio of military veteran distributed in the normal population.
Do some ex-military simply fall apart without the structure of the military to provide order and sustenance for their lives?
I suppose a related question is if there is more metal illness among veterans than you would see in the normal population?
I think a lot of the people with “homeless veteran” signs are lying to try to gain sympathy. If those signs are the source of that statistic, then the statistic is flawed.
ETA: it really annoys the shit out of me when websites (like that one) capitalize the word “Veteran” or other words that are not supposed to be capitalized.
The article above and the cite is from the US Dept off Veterans Affairs so I would tend to trust that statistic as I would think they are the last ones that would want to be bumping that number.
Homeless veteran population in Indy is about 22% of the adult population. Not that far off, but 33% seems high. Nationally, they might be more concentrated in military towns, though.
One-third of the adult homeless population is a high number compared to the % of vets vs. civilian population. But look at some of the other statistics in that article: 45% of homeless veterans suffer from mental illness and slightly more than 70% suffer from alcohol or other drug abuse problems. How would those numbers compare to the homless population in general?
The VA does not do a thorough job of vetting the vets, according to a book that touches on that subject, Stolen Valor. A Dept of Labor study in 1994 showed unemployment for men 18 and older was 6%. Vietnam-era veterans’ unemployment was 5%. Vietnam veterans (actually set foot there) unemployment was 3.9% (page 317). If someone claims to be a homeless vet, nobody generally checks on that.
I have an anecdotal data point: In Coconut Grove, FL lived (lives?) a homeless guy who wore all types of USMC stuff. He was quite lucid, help fix broken down cars and such, and I asked what unit he had been with, as my Dad was big in his Vietnam Battalion reunions, and they found guys like him they knew from back then who they pulled in and helped. This guy said “544th Battalion” or some such that had no bearing on real USMC units. But Marines take care of their own, and he got better money with those symbols.
Don’t be so sure – they may well have an antagonistic relationship with the US military, in terms of receiving funding. Not that they do, but any time an organization quotes numbers that seem unusual, it tends to be for a reason. And yeah, like most stats about the homeless, I’d love to hear where the numbers came from.
There is also the possibility that the type of people who are likely to end up homeless are the same type to be more inclined to join the military. I’d hazard a guess that young men with no family, friends, or prospects are more likely to say “Screw this, I’m joining the army”. When they get out, they are back to square one with no family, friends, or prospects. All three of these are pretty strong factors in becoming homeless.
Not true of the vast majority by any means, but probably a higher average than the population in general.
Likewise those individuals who operate best in a controlled environment will tend towards a military career; once that structure is removed they will struggle.
That was my thinking as well. Many times, I’ve heard that a substantial majority of the homeless were raised in foster care, and thus don’t have the familial safety net that most other folks do. Military service is often the most viable option, and after they get out (or get booted out, as is often the case), the streets are the next step.
And barring any studies, one could easily predict that:
Veterans use controlled substances at higher rates… have higher rates of alcoholism… higher divorce rates… worse driving records… pay more for car insurance… own homes below the national rate… have below-average credit scores… get cancer at higher rates… commit more domestic violence… etc.
.
Aging out of foster care into homelessness is a real concern for agencies, and those agencies are required in most states to have policies in place to ensure they’re not being “discharged” into homelessness. HUD puts a lot of weight on some of their funding to enforce this need as well. I haven’t seen any studies that would support or refute that claim. However, I’m willing to bet that health care and unemployment are much, much higher on the causes of homelessness than having been in foster care.
First, when you’re discharged from the military, that’s it. You’re on your own. Unless you’ve got a support system in place, it can be rough going. I also think the warrior culture doesn’t help much. Even though the official Pentagon policy is to encourage “wounded warriors” to seek help, some units’ leaders may still discourage it because that’s not their tradition.
Second, accessing the VA system can be daunting. There is a certain amount of bureaucracy involved, and that may turn some people off. There may also be logistical problems if the closest clinic is full and the VA hospital is some distance away. Although there is a mechanism for providing acute care, there can still be a wait for non-acute services. Other, non-veteran, social services may be lacking.
I think a good way to make things easier in terms of VA bureaucracy would be to make the transition from the active military to the VA system more seamless. You would be required to enroll in the VA as part of the discharge process. I would also require a class on VA benefits; ignorance about VA programs is rampant.
Sadly, not all the skills you can learn while in the military translate into skills of living in the “world”. I have some experience and when I was in the Army I managed to get a computer science degree. Everyone had the same rights to an education, the same assistance that I used, but less than 2% of everyone I knew took any advantage of this at all. They could have been very successful in the Army but had nothing that tranlated into good job skills above the blue-collar entry level. There were also a large number of vets that got out of the military because they had problems with staying in, primarily not liking to take orders, self-destructive tendencies, resisting improvments and just hating their situation. I won’t even get into the number of active duty guys with huge drinking problems.
So I don’t think 1/3 is right, I have no doubt the number is high.
When I got out of the Navy more than a decade ago, these transition programs were in place and were fairly robust. I am fairly certain they are still there.
And yes, coverage of VA benefits is included. But most people don’t really realize how small these benefits are for most veterans.
I did use my VA home loan guarantee. This cost the government nothing, as I did not default on my mortgage and indeed paid it off within three years (we bought another home, and that one did not use the VA loan). I am entitled to a free tombstone and burial plot - haven’t taken the government up on them yet. I am entitled to GI Bill money - but again that isn’t a great sum of cash and I haven’t tapped into mine yet.
As for medical benefits I get nothing. I have no service related injuries or disabilities and I’m not indigent, so the government expects me to provide for my own health care. Frankly, I have no real issue with this, but I think a lot of people are surprised that veterans aren’t covered as a matter of course.
I’m not going to say that things aren’t different for the indigent veteran - clearly they are. But there are some fakers out there - guys who can get some more money begging by putting “veteran” on a strip of cardboard or wearing a surplus boonie hat, but can’t access VA services because they never served a day in their life. And there are genuine veterans who can’t cope for whatever reason.
I think it would be a mistake to throw around PTSD as the reason for everything. One of my father’s close friends was a Vietnam combat veteran, a Bronze Star recipient. He had PTSD pretty bad - couldn’t talk about the war to his family, had insomnia, other symptoms. And this happened over several decades where he finished college, rose through the ranks and became a highly placed executive at two major industrial companies.
Clearly people are different and might react to a similar trauma in different ways, and forcing them into cookie-cutter treatments would be a major mistake.