Characteristics and Likelihood of Ongoing Homelessness Among Unsheltered Veterans

• Published in: Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2016-05, Vol.27 (2), p.911-922
• Main Authors: Montgomery, Ann Elizabeth, Byrne, Thomas H, Treglia, Daniel, Culhane, Dennis P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abandonments; Candidates; Clinical research; Drug abuse; Health care; Homeless people; Homeless Persons; Homelessness; Housing; Humans; Identification methods; Intensive care; Intensive treatment; Male; Medical screening; Methods; Military hospitals; Population; Regression models; Rehabilitation; Researchers; Shelters; Studies; Subsidies; United States; United States Department of Veterans Affairs; Veterans; Veterans Health
• ISSN: 1049-2089; 1548-6869; 1548-6869
• DOI: 10.1353/hpu.2016.0099

Unsheltered homelessness is an important phenomenon yet difficult to study due to lack of data. The Veterans Health Administration administers a universal homelessness screener, which identifies housing status for Veterans screening positive for homelessness. This study compared unsheltered and sheltered Veterans, assessed differences in rates of ongoing homelessness, and estimated a mixed-effect logistic regression model to examine the relationship between housing status and ongoing homelessness. Eleven percent of Veterans who screened positive for homelessness were unsheltered; 40% of those who rescreened were homeless six months later, compared with less than 20% of sheltered Veterans. Unsheltered Veterans were 2.7 times as likely to experience ongoing homelessness. Unsheltered Veterans differ from their sheltered counterparts-they are older, more likely to be male, less likely to have income-and may be good candidates for an intensive housing intervention. Future research will assess clinical characteristics and services utilization among this population.