Noteboom The Law Firm

Female Veterans Need More Focused Programs

March 24, 2011 - Ten years ago the amount of homeless female veterans was half what it is today. The most recent Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates show that female veterans are 4 times more likely to end up homeless than male veterans. Regardless of sex, all veterans face living with service-related injuries, both physical and mental, many with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although female veterans face many issues male veterans do not, there are not enough existing programs to address some of the specific issues female veterans face, such as being single mothers. 

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans offers 260 programs offering veterans such services as housing and counseling. Of those, 8 are designed specifically for women, and none of them address such issues as childcare. Despite reports of 1 in 3 women suffering from sexual harassment and assault while in service, there are not nearly enough people trained to handle those situations. The VA has 1,400 medical clinics and only 2 have PTSD programs geared toward female veterans.  

New laws have started to put more help and programs in place for female veterans, but female veterans need much stronger representation. Not only are more programs needed, those programs must be focused on specific issues. This means clinicians trained specifically to handle such issues as women with PTSD, and severe emotional scarring stemming from being the victim of sexual assault while on duty. These issues layering on top of one another and compounding psychological traumas is what causes many female veterans to become homeless.

All returning veterans deserve the utmost attention. That attention however, is not as effective as it could be without focus on specific issues. For female veterans, it is widely known what programs and services need to be offered, it's just a case of waiting for them to become available. A wait that many female veterans cannot afford.