A Misunderstood Subpopulation of Overall Homelessness

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Issue Areas

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Introduction

During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, patriotic sentiment brought increased public attention to veterans and the challenges they faced upon returning home. This visibility fostered myths about homeless veterans in particular, notably the belief that all homeless veterans are combat veterans suffering from PTSD.^1,2 This misconception originated in the 1970s, following the Vietnam War, amid increased public awareness of veterans’ issues and homelessness. In reality, only about 10 percent of veterans have seen combat, but the misconception that a large proportion of homeless individuals are combat veterans has continued to spread.^3,4 Individuals and groups have taken advantage of this misconception for nefarious purposes, as evidenced by the rise in cases of “stolen valor.”^5,6

This brief situates veterans within the broader homeless population, highlights distinctive aspects of veteran homelessness, and offers policy solutions to address some of the most pressing issues affecting this subpopulation.

Homeless Subpopulations

The homeless population is often seen as a homogeneous group whose most serious problems could be fixed by more affordable housing.⁷ Recent studies, however, have begun to shed light on the fact that the homeless population is anything but homogeneous. As these studies show, the overall homeless population is made up of various subpopulations. These include registered sex offenders, who make up approximately 10 percent of the homeless population nationwide (the percentages in several states are significantly and disturbingly higher).⁸ They also include asylum seekers since 2022.⁹ Despite these advances in understanding, researchers have little consistent data about other homeless subpopulations, especially the unsheltered. For example, one study claims that 26 percent of the unsheltered homeless have a serious mental illness, with a similar number suffering from a substance use disorder, while another reports that as many as 67 percent of the homeless are mentally ill.^10,11

Veterans are often considered a major subpopulation by scholarly researchers and policymakers alike.¹² This view, however, isn’t supported by the evidence. The annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count conducted by Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which collects data about homeless subpopulations including veterans, shows that the extent of veteran homelessness is relatively limited. Exploring the Point-in-Time count data for 2019 shows that there were a total of 567,715 homeless people, 279,327 of whom were sheltered in emergency shelters, 75,162 in transitional housing, 1,933 in supportive housing, and 211,293 unsheltered.¹³ Comparatively, during the same timeframe there were 37,085 total homeless veterans (6.5% of the total homeless population), 10,802 sheltered in emergency shelters (3.9% of the total in emergency shelter), 11,006 in transitional housing (14.6% of total in transitional housing), 932 in supportive housing (48.2% in supportive housing), and 14,345 unsheltered homeless veterans (6.7% of total unsheltered, 2.5% of the total homeless population) in the United States.¹⁴ Data shows that veterans are the only homeless subgroup that has recently decreased in number, with a 56 percent reduction in overall number of homeless veterans since 2010.¹⁵ Meanwhile, the overall homeless population has risen 21% during the same period.¹⁶ Disturbingly, other more problematic subpopulations, such as the homeless sex offender population, have grown as dramatically as the overall homeless population.¹⁷ Today, there are fewer homeless veterans than there are homeless registered sex offenders, yet homeless veterans are often cited as the justification for and major beneficiaries of Housing First initiatives.¹⁸

PIT data show that, at the time the survey was conducted, the majority of homeless veterans (by HUD standards) were being provided transitional housing or supportive housing, meaning that the majority of homeless vets are, in fact, housed.¹⁹ This contradicts a key claim made by self-described homeless advocates, who oppose regulations against street camping partly on the basis that they may negatively impact veterans. The unsheltered veteran population is a relatively small percentage (6.7%) of the unsheltered population, according to HUD.²⁰

During the same period in 2019, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced $200 million in funding for transitional housing and supportive housing (under the Grant Per Diem program) to support an additional 13,000 beds for homeless veterans.^21,22 This equates to $16,753.22 per veteran in transitional and supportive housing using 2019 numbers, or to $15,384.62 per unsheltered veteran who would be eligible to move into transitional housing. While the intended target population for the $200 million of assistance is unclear from the announcement, $2.7 million was set aside for mental health services for veterans with chronic mental illness (which is not covered under the Housing First program) and for female veterans.²³ For comparison, in the same year, HUD allocated $2.383 billion ($4,197.52 per homeless individual across all homeless) for homeless housing programs under Housing First, with no expectation of treatment due to the Housing First model’s low- or no-barrier-to-entry ideology.²⁴ This disparity in spending can be attributed to a program known as Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH), which effectively does exactly what President Trump’s Executive Order 14321 “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” calls for—a balanced approach to housing and treatment.^25,26 The expansion of the HUD-VASH program to encompass more veterans in transitional housing (with supportive treatment) was reflected in HUD’s 2024 numbers, where 32,882 total veterans were homeless (19,031 sheltered and 13,851 unsheltered—a 10.7 percent decrease from 2023, but only a 3.5 percent decrease from 2019 numbers).²⁷ Of note, while the number of homeless veterans decreased 7.5 percent between 2023 and 2024,²⁸ it is not known whether this is due to the VA program or a delayed consequence of the reduction in military operations following the end of the Afghanistan war in 2021.²⁹

Housing First and Veterans

Housing First did not prioritize treatment; it prioritized housing as the answer to homelessness. As a result, under the Housing First model, individuals who needed psychiatric or addiction treatment too often did not receive it.³⁰ Primarily for this reason, the current administration abandoned Housing First in Executive Order 14321.³¹ In contrast with the Housing First model, the Housing and Urban Development-Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program prioritizes both treatment and housing assistance, pairing HUD’s rental assistance voucher program with the VA’s case management and support services for eligible service members.³² Eligibility for HUD-VASH is determined by each individual’s characterization of discharge, which dictates which services a veteran can receive. Service members with an honorable or general (under honorable conditions) discharge are eligible for the full spectrum of VA benefits, including housing, education, healthcare, mental healthcare, etc.³³ Other than honorable (OTH) discharges, administrative discharges resulting from misconduct, and dishonorable discharges due to a conviction for criminal activity are not eligible for these services.³⁴

Challenges in addressing the homeless veteran population are exacerbated by the abysmal data reporting structures of both HUD and the VA. Public information on veteran housing status by discharge characterization is largely unavailable, and HUD primarily focuses on ethnicity, gender, and LGBTQ status for Point-in-Time counts, even for veterans, despite discharge characterization being the main driver of access to services. However, a 2024 study of the Grant and Per Diem program found that of approximately 22,000 veterans in the program, only four percent had discharges classified as Other Than Honorable, and only one percent had a punitive discharge that would have precluded access to VA services.³⁵ Although participants were enrolled in the Grant and Per Diem program, which allowed funds to be used for housing and treatment, the VA’s researchers never directly addressed housing status. However, other reports state that veterans with Other Than Honorable or dishonorable discharges represent as much as 5.4 percent of the homeless population, which, if accurate, would make them the majority (83 percent) of the veterans in the overall homeless population.³⁶

Other Than Honorable and dishonorably discharged service members are usually disqualified from accessing VA services through the HUD-VASH program (a similarity to HUD’s permanent supportive housing vouchers).³⁷ By contrast, the Grant Per Diem program (the VA version of transitional housing, with support for psychiatric, addiction, and vocational services) allows funds to be given to local community providers serving veterans, except for those dishonorably discharged, but these funds are limited.³⁸ These limitations involve the total funds allotted per day, which are restricted to 1/8 the cost of daily care per veteran, and must be based on an appeal to the VA’s Discharge Review Board to reconsider the reason for the unfavorable discharge.³⁹ The listed reasons for appealing a discharge and requesting a recharacterization include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, Military Sexual Trauma, and Sexual Orientation, but the decision ultimately rests with the VA, which has largely focused on discharges related to gender dysphoria.^40,41,42

Between January 2019 and December 2021, approximately 130,000 veterans were enrolled in the HUD-VASH program.⁴³ During the same period, the military discharged approximately 400,000 service members for retirement, end of term of service, medical discharges, etc.⁴⁴ This equates to roughly 32.5 percent of discharged veterans using either transitional or permanent supported housing through HUD-VASH. However, HUD reported 37,085 veterans living in shelters or on the street in January of 2019, 37,252 in January of 2020, and 33,129 in January of 2022.⁴⁵ This is a far cry from the VA’s reported numbers, and the characterization of discharge for those in the Point-in-Time counts remains unknown.

Unpublished data from Fresno, CA, shows some interesting trends. The Fresno VA reports 276 individuals being served, of whom 177 were defined as “literally homeless” (and 83 of whom have active HUD-VASH vouchers), 48 were at imminent risk of losing housing (23 of whom have HUD-VASH vouchers), 38 were in unstable housing (50 percent of whom have HUD-VASH vouchers), and only 10 were stably housed (half of whom have HUD-VASH vouchers). Notably, 233 (84 percent) are reported as ineligible (logically due to discharge status) for HUD-VASH, yet 202 (73 percent of the total) have active HUD-VASH vouchers for permanent supportive housing. Additionally, eight (2.8 percent) are using the Grant Per Diem program, typically reserved for those who are not eligible for the HUD-VASH program. Further, across the four Continuums of Care that operate in Fresno, all 276 veterans are still receiving active case management (health care, mental health care, etc.) from social work teams. Eligibility for case management (i.e. an honorable or general under honorable conditions discharge) is not even being tracked for 204 individuals. An additional 20 are of unknown status (with 17 receiving HUD-VASH vouchers), and 27 are actively receiving services despite being ineligible (23 of which are also receiving HUD-VASH vouchers). The Fresno VA can only attest to the eligibility of 25 veterans (22 of whom are getting HUD-VASH vouchers). Fully 66 percent (181) of the veterans are not interested in finding employment at all, and only seven are receiving any kind of employment services, with another 25 referred. While we do not know the actual discharge status of veterans in the HUD-VASH or Grant Per Diem programs, the data appears to be consistent with the VA’s 2017 decision to expand the definition of homelessness to allow for Other Than Honorably discharged veterans to access veteran services.⁴⁶ Interestingly, other studies have shown that OTH and dishonorably discharged individuals are more likely to have adverse outcomes due to a lack of support services, even with a housing voucher.⁴⁷

The Challenges of a Discharge Upgrade

When providing discharge upgrades, the VA has prioritized individuals who were discharged for being transgender, for violating the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, or otherwise due to sexual orientation, transgender status, or HIV positive status.^48,49 Of the 1,702 cases brought to the Department of War for discharge status upgrades, roughly 97 percent have been upgraded, giving these service members access to mental and physical healthcare, employment assistance, education opportunities, and housing. The remainder, however, have a much harder time getting discharge upgrades because they were discharged because of misconduct or substance abuse.⁵⁰

The Problem of Inappropriate Discharge

A 2023 study reports that in 2017, there were roughly 20 million veterans in the United States, with post-Gulf War veterans making up 18 percent of that total.^51,52 Between 2006 and 2012, the military discharged 76,165 service members with other-than-honorable status, with about 14 percent of those discharged for a serious offense, and the rest for missing duty or substance abuse.⁵³ The executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program has expressed concern that military commanders are choosing to simply discharge service members for misconduct rather than sending them through the medical evaluation board process, which can take a minimum of 100 days depending on the veteran’s condition, to expedite the troop replacement process.^54,55 In fact, misconduct charges increased 25 percent from 2009 to 2013, with eight posts reporting a 67 percent increase.⁵⁶ This equates to approximately 125,000 Global War on Terror veterans with Other Than Honorable discharges being denied services from the VA.⁵⁷ Additionally, 21 percent of service members have been found to have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, with a reported total of 45 percent having at least one mental illness, and 33 percent suffering from Alcohol Use Disorder.^58,59,60 This equates to a significant number of veterans with mental health and addiction challenges that are not being addressed by the various military services, and are left ineligible for services from the VA because of a discharge status that was given to them in the name of expedient personnel replacement.

Recommended Solutions

To address the problems faced by the homeless veteran population, the following recommendations are presented:

1. Better and more detailed data

Researchers and policymakers need an accurate view of the type of veteran who is homeless by housing or shelter status. HUD / VA should do a better job of tracking discharge status so that states and federal agencies have more reliable information for policy and planning. For example, understanding that dishonorably discharged veterans make up the majority of unsheltered veterans would provide policymakers with the necessary information to enact legislation targeted toward this subpopulation instead of assuming that all homeless veterans are the same.

2. Continue to use discharge upgrades where appropriate, or on a
case-by-case basis.

However, the ability to upgrade should be expanded if the veteran can prove that they were suffering from serious mental illness or addiction that caused the behavior that led to the characterization of their discharge. This would not only expand services for the veterans who need them most, but would also address the reality that combatant commanders are prone to discharging service members to expedite personnel replacement rather than having them evaluated. Additionally, these expanded services could help reduce the number of veteran suicides.

3. Use state veterans and homeless programs to better address the gaps created by discharge status.

While federal guidelines may restrict how discharges are characterized, and combatant commanders might hesitate to upgrade service members convicted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice—thus potentially denying them benefits accorded to honorably served personnel—states can tailor their policies to better address the specific needs of dishonorably discharged, homeless veterans.

4. Better align data collection (especially regarding which veteran populations are homeless or unsheltered) with the parameters for eligibility for programs.

If a state’s veteran programs only apply to honorably discharged individuals, but transparent data collection shows that most veterans on the street are not honorably discharged, this needs to be reported so that policymakers can make informed decisions about how to address this population. Policy planning documents that try to fit programs to a nebulous, poorly defined population yield poor policy. States must reevaluate eligibility criteria to target specific, known subpopulations of veterans that cannot currently be served (i.e. the dishonorably discharged). This allows for the creation of new programs specifically for that subpopulation, or for the leveraging of general homelessness programs rather than veteran-specific programs to target that population.

Conclusions

While HUD-VASH is an effective program because it covers treatment and housing, it is often limited in scope to those who have been honorably discharged, precluding the neediest homeless veterans from receiving treatment. While discharge upgrades are possible, the reality is that many veterans continue to fall through the cracks and fail to receive treatment, even as the VA is redefining homelessness to expand access. While the VA’s focus on Housing First has placed the majority of homeless veterans into transitional or permanent housing, the worst cases (i.e., punitive or addiction-related discharges) are not eligible for housing or supportive services because of the characterization of their discharge.^61,62 As a result, suicide rates remain high among veterans, especially for those with an Other Than Honorable discharge, despite the VA’s expansion of mental health services.^63,64 Service providers should not be waiting for suicidal ideation or suicide attempts to address the mental health and addiction needs of veterans. If Housing First ideologues were truly concerned about veteran welfare, they would recognize the need for greater access to treatment, especially within a group that is historically likely to shirk treatment.⁶⁵ States have an opportunity to expand veteran services to include mental illness and addiction through state-based housing programs that mirror the HUD-VASH program, where treatment compliance is a component of continued housing.⁶⁶