7,000 to 8,000 homeless veterans are female

New Housing Serves Homeless Female Vets
October 20, 2008
Associated Press

DAYTON, Ohio - Carisa Dogen is an Army veteran. She's also homeless, and has slept in parks and scavenged for food in trash cans.

"It's real tough, especially on nights when it's cold and rainy," Dogen, 38, said as she sat inside The Other Place, a homeless shelter. "I got accosted a couple of times by males. Walking the streets and stuff, it's hard and it's scary."

Dogen is among the 7,000 to 8,000 homeless female U.S. military veterans as estimated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She is among the few who are hoping to benefit from new housing specifically for female veterans, an initiative homeless advocates say falls far short of what is needed.

A 27-unit renovated apartment building for female veterans on the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center campus was completed in August. It is expected to be filled by mid-November.

The facility is one of the largest of about a dozen around the nation, said Peter Dougherty, director of homeless-veterans programs for Veterans Affairs. Run by a private housing agency, it will give veterans access to medical services, day care, job training, and drug and alcohol counseling.

The homeless female veteran is a relatively new phenomenon because only recently have so many women been in the military, said Todd DePastino, a historian at Waynesburg University in Pennsylvania who wrote a book on the history of homelessness.

Nearly 11 percent of U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are women. Women make up about 5 percent of homeless veterans, up from 3 percent 10 years ago, according to the VA.

"It's a national embarrassment," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

More women are showing up at the door of Swords to Plowshares, a San Francisco group that provides housing and other services to homeless veterans.
click post title for more