Homeless veterans

Homeless veterans are persons who have served in the armed forces who are homeless or living without access to secure and appropriate accommodation.

Many of these veterans suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder that often occurs after extreme emotional trauma involving threat or injury. Causes of homelessness include:

Veteran homelessness is not a phenomenon only of the 21st century; as early as the Reconstruction Era, homeless veterans were among the general homeless population. In 1932, homeless veterans were part of the Bonus Army. In 1934, there were as many as a quarter million veterans living on the streets. During the Truman Administration, there were one hundred thousand homeless veterans in Chicago, and a quarter of that number in Washington, D.C. In 1987, the number of homeless veterans was as high as three hundred thousand.

Estimates of the homeless population vary as these statistics are very difficult to obtain. In 2007, the first veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom began to be documented in homeless shelters. By 2009 there were 154,000 homeless, with slightly less than half having served in South Vietnam. According to the VA in 2011, veterans made up 14% of homeless adult males, and 2% of homeless adult females, and both groups were overrepresented within the homeless population compared to the general population. The overall count in 2012 showed 62,619 homeless veterans in the United States. In January 2013, there were an estimated 57,849 homeless veterans in the U.S., or 12% of the homeless population. Just under 8% were female. In July 2014, the largest population of homeless veterans lived in Los Angeles County, with there being over 6,000 homeless veterans, out of the total estimated 54,000 homeless within that area. In 2015, a report issued by HUD counted over 47,000 homeless veterans nationwide, the majority of whom were White and male. In 2016, there were over 39,000 homeless veterans nationwide. A Corps in terms of military size.

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