Homelessness Growing Among Young, Female Veterans

(Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army Photo Credit: Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp)

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association, has released a report that states homelessness is a growing problem among young women who have returned from active combat duty.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition which results in many soldiers being sent home from combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Angela Peacock was one such Veteran. In Baghdad, her job had been to drive unarmored trucks. She was in constant fear of roadside bombs.

The VA has recently announced a five-year plan intended to significantly decrease homelessness for all Veterans, both male and female.

The report, entitled “Women Warriors”, claims that women Veterans earn on an average of $10,000 less per year in civilian jobs than their male counterparts. This makes it harder to afford housing. To make matters worse, less than five percent of all of the homeless shelters the VA runs offer separate male and female housing.

Peacock said about the fear that she felt in Iraq, “You don’t ever know is today going to be the day. A lot of us wrote letters home like, ‘If I die give this to my mom.”

So far, over 212,000 female service members have been deployed in either Afghanistan or in Iraq. This equals 11 percent of the total deployment. More than 600 women have been wounded, 120 killed in action, but that is not where the story ends.

According to the VA, every night there are approximately 6,500 women who are Vets sleeping on the street. That number is twice what it was 10 years ago.

At just 30 years of age, Angela Peacock was discharged from the Army after serving in the Iraq war due to health reasons. She then became homeless.

Peter Dougherty, director of the homeless program at the VA, said, “Almost half the women who we see today that are homeless are under 35.”

However, Angela Peacock now is able to live in a rented house. She also has the help of G.I. Joe, a black lab companion dog provided by the VA, who helps her deal with her PTSD while in public places.

Before she got help, Peacock said that she lived “from couch to couch… cleaning people’s houses so I could stay with them.”

She first got into trouble after returning from Iraq. She found readjustment to life in St. Louis difficult. She became addicted to prescription drugs and her husband left her, leaving her homeless.

Peacock says, though, that her life has improved significantly. “I have my days that are hard to get out of bed, and if fireworks or something goes off I’m just like done for the day… but it’s much better than it was. Much better.”

Shad Meshad, the President and Founder of the National Veterans Foundation (NVF) said, “It’s practically criminal that so many of our former soldiers, who have served and sacrificed for their country, are ending up on the streets.  The growing problem of homeless female Veterans is tragic, especially when so many of them are single mothers.”

 “Why does it have to be so hard,” Peacock asked, crying, “to just have a home and just to have a normal life?  …war does something to you where it just twists everything. I don’t look the same, I don’t act the same, I don’t have the same mannerisms.”

Source: CBS News

The National Veterans Foundation’s Homeless Street Team Outreach program, which helps homeless Veterans get off the streets and into transitional housing and treatment programs, has also seen a rise in homeless female Veterans. 

To read about the Street Team, including the story of Gigi, a former woman Marine, now homeless, visit our Outreach Update from February 3, 2010. 

If you are a Veteran in need of assistance, please contact the Lifeline for Vets™ at 888-777-4443.  To support the NVF’s programs and services for Veterans in need, visit www.help-Veterans.org.