This first-ever report of its kind indicates that homeless veterans are present to some extent in each state, and provides in-depth demographic information on homeless veterans and how those individuals compare to others in the population who are homeless. The bottom line, according the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Veterans Affairs, is that nearly 76,000 veterans were homeless on a given night in 2009 while roughly 136,000 veterans spent at least one night in a shelter during that year.

Last June, President Barack Obama announced the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, including a focus on homeless veterans.  The report, Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, hopes to put the country on a path to end veterans’ and chronic homelessness by 2015; and to ending homelessness among children, family and youth by 2020.

“Providing assistance in mental health, substance abuse treatment, education and employment goes hand-in-hand with preventive steps and permanent supportive housing.  We continue to work towards our goal of finding every Veteran safe housing and access to needed services,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.

Although veterans are disproportionately represented in all age groups of those homeless, they are the overwhelming majority of homeless individuals age 62 and above. And almost a quarter of poor Hispanic veterans living alone — a key risk factor for all veterans, according to the report — used shelter services as some during 2009. Similarly, about 24 percent of African American veterans with incomes below the poverty line were homeless at some point in 2009, as were 35 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native veterans.

But even outside of ethnic boundaries, there is significant risk for veterans, even those in young age groups, to become homeless. The report found that veterans between the age of 18 and 30 are almost twice as likely to be homeless than non-veterans — and the risk increases if the veteran is poor. But it also important to note that young veterans not in poverty remain three times more likely to be homeless than young non-veterans living in poverty.

Although every state in the union has homeless veterans, the report found that more than half of all homeless veterans in America are concentrated in four states: California (26 percent), Florida (9 percent), New York (8 percent) and Texas (7 percent). These four states have a similar combined share of all sheltered homeless people (45 percent), but only 28 percent of the total veteran population nationwide.

The report estimates that Iowa has less than one percent (.4 percent) of the total number of homeless veterans in the nation. But, of the people in Iowa who are homeless, 8 percent are veterans, which is only slightly lower than the average for all Midwestern states. The report places Iowa on a list of 14 states with an under-representation of veterans in their homeless population when compared to the state’s overall population share.

Perhaps most interesting for Iowa and other predominantly rural states is the fact that 32 percent of homeless veterans were accessing services outside of urban centers. Those veterans who seek services in rural or suburban areas have characteristics that are markedly different from veterans seeking urban services. For instance, a considerable majority of the rural/suburban aide seekers were white, carried a higher incidence of disability and migrated into the rural area.

Other key findings in the report released today are:

• More than 3,000 cities and counties reported 75,609 homeless veterans on a single night in January of 2009; 57 percent were staying in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program while the remaining 43 percent were without shelter.  Veterans represent approximately 12 percent of all homeless persons counted nationwide during the 2009 ‘point-in-time snapshot.’
• During a 12-month period in 2009, an estimated 136,000 veterans—or about 1 in every 168 veterans— spent at least one night in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program.  The vast majority of sheltered homeless veterans (96 percent) experienced homelessness alone while a much smaller share (4 percent) was part of a family.  Sheltered homeless veterans are most often individual white men between the ages of 31 and 50 and living with a disability.
• Veterans are 50 percent more likely to become homeless compared to all Americans and the risk is even greater among veterans living in poverty and poor minority veterans.  HUD and VA examined the likelihood of becoming homeless among American veterans with particular demographic characteristics and found that during 2009, twice as many poor Hispanic veterans used a shelter compared with poor non-Hispanic veterans.  African American veterans in poverty had similar rates of homelessness.
• Most veterans who used emergency shelter stayed for only brief periods.  One-third stayed in shelter for less than one week; 61 percent used a shelter for less than one month; and 84percent stayed for less than three months. The report also concluded that veterans remained in shelters longer than did non-veterans.  In 2009, the median length of stay for veterans who were alone was 21 days in an emergency shelter and 117 days in transitional housing.  By contrast, non-veteran individuals stayed in an emergency shelter for 17 days and 106 days in transitional housing.
• Nearly half of homeless veterans were located in California, Texas, New York and Florida while only 28 percent of all veterans were located in those same four States.
• Sheltered homeless veterans are far more likely to be alone rather than part of a family household; 96 percent of veterans are individuals compared to 66 percent in the overall homeless population.

HUD and VA are currently working together to administer a joint program specifically targeted to homeless veterans.  Through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program, HUD provides rental assistance for homeless veterans while VA offers case management and clinical services.  Since 2008, a total investment of $225 million is working to provide housing and supportive service for approximately 30,000 veterans who would otherwise be homeless.

In addition, last month HUD awarded $1.4 billion to keep nearly 7,000 local homeless assistance programs operating in the coming year.  The Department also allocated $1.5 billion through its new Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing (HPRP) Program. Made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, HPRP is intended to prevent persons from falling into homelessness or to rapidly re-house them if they do.  To date, more than 850,000 persons, including more than 15,000 veterans, have been assisted through HPRP.

Veteran Homelessness: A Supplemental Report to the 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress –

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.

But the proposal would be “dead on arrival” if it’s sent to Congress, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said.

Murray used that blunt terminology when she told Shinseki that the idea would not be acceptable and would be rejected if formally proposed. Her remarks came during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs about the 2010 budget.

I am not a health care wonk but some of my good friends are, so I’ll refrain from pretending I can construct a health care argument whereby this makes sense (or doesn’t, for that matter). Instead, as a moral matter, veterans deserve free, government-provided health care. As a political matter, why the Obama administration would want to squander its good will in the military community is completely beyond me. Murray calls the plan DOA, as she should. But why should it be considered seriously in the first place?