New research on homeless veterans : Exploring services, subgroups, special impacts, and treatment outcomes

At any point in time about one-third of the adult homeless population consists of veterans. Current population estimates suggest that 130,000 to 150,00 veterans are homeless on any given night and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year. Homeless veterans now receive housing assistance and housing supportive services in a variety of VA and community programs that provide a broad range of alternatives to facilitate permanent housing solutions. As these programs have evolved, increasing research effort has been directed to evaluation of program outcomes. A review of this literature reveals that the outcome paradigms have typically focused on mental health characteristics (e.g., serious mental illness, substance abuse) of veterans and program elements (e.g., transitional housing with mental health treatment support) as factors influencing outcome. More recent research in veteran homelessness has taken a broader view, recognizing the importance of more comprehensive assessment of the veteran receiving services and of the programs providing these services.

In this symposium, we introduce recent studies reflecting this research effort. These studies provide the results of investigations of: the impact of disaster on homeless veterans, defining characteristics of the special population of elderly homeless veterans, the relative impact of active substance abuse profiles on short-term transitional housing outcomes, and analysis of empirically based elements of community-based housing services.