Characteristics Associated With Unsheltered Status Among Veterans

Unsheltered homelessness is a strongly debated public issue. The study objective is to identify personal and community characteristics associated with unsheltered homelessness in veterans and to test for interactions between these characteristics. In a 2018 national survey of U.S. veterans with home...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of preventive medicine 2021-09, Vol.61 (3), p.357-368
Main Authors: Kertesz, Stefan G., DeRussy, Aerin J., Riggs, Kevin R., Hoge, April E., Varley, Allyson L., Montgomery, Ann Elizabeth, Austin, Erika L., Blosnich, John R., Jones, Audrey L., Gabrielian, Sonya E., Gelberg, Lillian, Gordon, Adam J., Richman, Joshua S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Affordability
Community
Criminal justice
Drug abuse
Drug addiction
Economic problems
Homeless people
Homeless Persons
Housing
Humans
Marital status
Medicine
Polls & surveys
Poverty
Psychosocial factors
Rents
Risk Factors
Social justice
Social Support
Socioeconomic factors
Veterans
Weather
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Summary:Unsheltered homelessness is a strongly debated public issue. The study objective is to identify personal and community characteristics associated with unsheltered homelessness in veterans and to test for interactions between these characteristics. In a 2018 national survey of U.S. veterans with homeless experiences; investigators assessed unsheltered time; psychosocial characteristics; and community measures of shelter access, weather, and rental affordability. Associations between these characteristics and unsheltered status were tested in July–August 2020. This study also tested whether the count of personal risk factors interacted with community characteristics in predicting unsheltered status. Among 5,406 veterans, 481 (8.9%) reported ≥7 nights unsheltered over 6 months. This group was more likely to report criminal justice history, poor social support, medical and drug problems, financial hardship, and being unmarried. Their communities had poorer shelter access and warmer temperatures. The likelihood of unsheltered experience rose with risk factor count from 2.0% (0–1) to 8.4% (2–3) and to 24.2% (4–11). Interaction tests showed that the increase was greater for communities with warmer weather and higher rents (p
ISSN:0749-3797
1873-2607
DOI:10.1016/j.amepre.2021.03.017