Home Ownership and Housing Cost Burden: A Comparison of Veterans and Non-Veterans

Abstract

Past research has found that veterans are at modestly greater risk than non-veterans for homelessness. Most attempts to explain these findings have focused on sociodemographic risk factors such as age, race, and prevalent mental illness. Less attention has been given to a potential proximate explanation of homelessness, housing status (i.e., home ownership and housing cost burden). We used data from the 2006 American Community Survey to examine whether male veterans in age-race/ethnic groups at greatest risk of homelessness are also less likely to own a home than matched male non-veterans, and whether they have a greater likelihood of experiencing housing cost burdens that could put them at risk of homelessness. Compared to non-veterans, recently discharged veterans and veterans from the immediate post-Vietnam era, veteran cohorts at greatest relative risk of homelessness were significantly less likely than their non-veteran peers to own their home while other cohorts of veterans were significantly more likely to own their home. However, veterans of virtually all ethnic and age groups were significantly and substantially less likely than their non-veteran peers to experience severe housing cost burdens. These data suggest that housing status does not explain the increased risk of homelessness among selected veteran subgroups.