Female Veterans Pose Homeless Challenge for VA
(a lengthy, very disturbing read)
Female Veterans Pose Homeless Challenge for VA
Veterans' need for services often don't emerge until they've been discharged for a while, says a spokesperson with a poverty relief group. "It usually takes several years before he or she starts to reach a point of crisis."
Veteran Penelope McClenan struggles with disabilities and homelessness.
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Special Risk Factors
Last year, Disabled American Veterans released a report on the special risk factors for homelessness among female veterans. Like male counterparts, women have difficulty translating their military experience into civilian employment finance, housing and social issues. But Ilem, at Disabled American Veterans, emphasized some of the other problems outlined in the report. "Female veterans have additional or worse risk factors: characteristics or history of trauma; single parenthood; higher rates of unemployment; lower levels of social support following military service."
Authors of the Disabled American Veterans report made more than 20 recommendations. Of particular relevance to homeless is No. 6: "VA should build upon the local community partnerships and outreach established for other programs, such as homeless veterans, to establish support networks for women veterans in accessing health care, employment, financial counseling and housing."
How are efforts to fight homelessness catering to women's special needs?
Women's eNews sought interviews with the two organizations receiving grants by the Department of Labor in the New York area, Easter Seals New York and Black Veterans for Social Justice, to investigate that question, but received no responses to numerous requests. The Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service awarded 22 organizations across the United States to help 1,900 homeless female veterans and veterans with families.
Veterans' need for services often don't emerge until they've been discharged for a while, said a spokesperson of Volunteers of America, a major faith-based poverty relief organization based in Washington, D.C., in a phone interview. "It usually takes several years after a veteran returns home before he or she starts to reach a point of crisis."
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http://womensenews.org/story/military/150401/female-veterans-pose-homeless-challenge-va
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