It looks like the rates of homelessness among female veterans are rising:
Even including the 20 or so beds that would make up the new women’s home, Ms. Kiss described a grim calculus for female veterans. Ten years ago women represented 3 percent of homeless veterans, she said, compared with 5 percent now. About 180,000 female troops now serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Of course, it’s still important to note that the vast majority of homeless veterans are male, and the number of homeless female veterans is rather disproportionately low compared to their numbers in the military overall. But the bad news is, firstly, that their numbers just may rise when they finally come home from Iraq and Afghanistan. And secondly, there are fewer services out there to cater to them:
A FAR-REACHING network of private and public agencies serves homeless veterans in Connecticut, with group homes and caseworkers helping former military members live normally again. But that network now faces the fallout from a signal change in the nation’s military policy — namely, the shift to female combatants. The number of homeless female veterans is also growing, with fewer resources to help them.
Earlier this month, though, an organization that runs two group homes for homeless male veterans in Bridgeport sought to build a similar facility in Norwalk for women. The organization, the Applied Behavioral Rehabilitation Institute, was outbid in its effort to buy city land for the project, but the leaders of the initiative said that if it did not happen in Norwalk, they would find someplace else.
And Lord knows that unless Obama makes some incredibly significant changes, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs won’t be looking after them.
The biographical information of one of the homeless women interviewed for the article also made me take pause, and consider that there might be a connection between the sexual violence epidemic in the military and female veteran homelessness. Seventy-six percent of homeless veterans experience drug, alcohol or mental health problems; and while combat on its own can certainly be enough to bring about these issues, we know that sexual violence is also an indicator for substance abuse, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Stop Military Rape’s statistics seem to back up my hunches further.
Yes I do have a point, and it’s this: the rates of homelessness, not to mention stubstance abuse, trauma and other lasting impacts of combat, need to be dealt with across the board, for both men and women. But the solutions might not be the same across the board, because the causes may also be different. And in working out solutions to this problem — real, long-term solutions that go beyond the necessity of providing beds for people to sleep in — that needs to be taken into account.
SWAN, the Service Womens Action Network is starting a new project around VA claim denial for Military Sexual Trauma. Hoepfully we will be able to shed more light on teh problem but also solutions. http://servicewomen.org/ Information on that to go up soon.
As a veteran speaking to lots of other female vets I see a nasty pattern of the variety of issues women face all but being ignored. Vets who have experienced sexual assault aren’t able to find programs that focus on that (although it seems more often they can find indivual counselors).
Female combat vets seem to only be funneled to sexual assault treatment or programs that include angry men that don’t facilitate healing.
The VA can all too often be a negative experience in of itself.
Its no wonder the homeless population is rising as less justice and more frustration is found.
Obama just appointed Tammy Duckworth (who really should be in Congress right now) as an Assistant VA secretary, so I think there is hope.
To be honest, I don’t really see the military rape problem getting solved as long as we remain highly militarized. Our army thrives on, perpetuates and wouldn’t function without the widespread warped masculinity which makes some men think that it’s okay to do anything they want to a woman.
A “real long term solution” might be to get rid of those wars we’re fighting and cut our army down to a fraction of its current size, with the eventual goal of ending war and eliminating the military industrial complex altogether.
Oh, and this would mean that less men would end up homeless vets as well.
Ginmar talks about how much the VA sucks for women on her blog a lot.
Ugh, don’t even get me started on the VA. The love of my life has permanent back injuries and chronic back pain thanks to their lack of services and care.
180,000 female troops now serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Um, no. That’s the number of troops, total. 20% of that, is how many are female.
[...] Feministe: Homelessness Increases Among Female Veterans – “the rates of homelessness, not to mention stubstance abuse, trauma and other lasting impacts of combat, need to be dealt with across the board, for both men and women. But the solutions might not be the same across the board, because the causes may also be different. And in working out solutions to this problem — real, long-term solutions that go beyond the necessity of providing beds for people to sleep in — that needs to be taken into account.” [...]
[...] is a big problem, so why isn’t it getting more national attention and discussion?Gah… The number of female service members who have become homeless after leaving the military [...]