Alan Graham, president of the nonprofit Mobile Loaves & Fishes, estimates that there are approximately 1,000 “chronically homeless” individuals in Austin. Between 25 percent to 35 percent are veterans.

If anyone can provide an accurate assessment of homelessness in Austin, it’s Graham, who in the past 13 years has spearheaded efforts to deliver more than 3 million meals to the city’s homeless community.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has estimated that on any given night, there are 154,000 homeless veterans sleeping in the alleys and parks of the United States. The majority are male and they have served in every U.S. military conflict since World War II, with 47 percent serving during the Vietnam era.

Adds the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans: Roughly 56 percent of all homeless veterans are African-American or Hispanic, despite only accounting for 12.8 percent and 15.4 percent of the U.S. population respectively.

Green Doors provides transitional housing and support to homeless veterans in Austin. Its Transitional Veterans Re-Entry Housing Program serves roughly 60 male and female veterans annually in houses throughout South and Southeast Austin.

The shortage of affordable housing, coupled with lack of employment and access to health care, are cited by Green Doors as factors that produce homeless veterans. The lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and a lack of family and social service support are widely cited as compounding the problem of homelessness for veterans.

• To learn more about the plight of homeless veterans in Austin, check out “The Forgotten: Austin’s Homeless Veterans,” posted in Reporting Texas, a digital media initiative from the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. 
• Read more about the nonprofit National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and its advocacy before local, state and federal agencies that provide emergency and supportive housing, food, health services, job training and placement assistance, and legal aid to homeless veterans.
• Additional information about veteran homelessness, both nationally and locally, and Green Doors’ Transitional Veterans Re-Entry Housing Program, is available at Green Doors Website.
• Read about the daily, ongoing work by Mobile Loaves & Fishes to serve Austin’s homeless, including as many as 350 military veterans.
• Caritas of Austin provides an array of services to individuals and families facing homelessness, or who are in a housing crisis. These services include emergency rent/utility assistance; transitional housing; and permanent supportive housing.