2009 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report's Veterans Supplement: A Clearer Picture of Homeless Veterans

The Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) provides counts and demographic characteristics of homeless individuals and families, information on their shelter use, and description of shelter and residential programs. The 2009 AHAR will be the first to contain a supplemental report on homeless veterans. Those targeting services to homeless veterans, advocating for increased subsidies and services to this population, or assessing the effectiveness of programs for homeless veterans are particularly interested in the demographics of homeless veterans, whether veteran status increases risk of homelessness, and how veteran homelessness is distributed nationwide. Answers have been limited by incomplete data on homelessness within the population of veterans, and on veteran status within the homeless population. The new Veterans Supplement to the AHAR offers more complete data, as three hundred and fifty communities forming a nationally representative sample will report unduplicated counts of sheltered homeless veterans, their demographic characteristics, and patterns of shelter use, providing a current picture of veteran homelessness and establishing a basis for observing future changes in rates and patterns of homelessness for veterans and veteran subgroups. We compare the demographic characteristics and shelter use of sheltered homeless veterans to those of the total veteran population, and to those of the total sheltered homeless population, evaluate these findings in the context of previous research on homeless veterans, and discuss implications for policy design. We discuss remaining flaws in the data and the utility of the 2009 data as a baseline measure for future changes.