Invisible, unemployed, more women vets homeless

BY JENNIFER CHEN
Capital News Service
LANSING – A growing number of female veterans in the state are living in the streets or homeless shelters, according to the Michigan Women’s Commission. About 45,400 female veterans live in Michigan, according to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics. Michigan has no specific program targeting homeless female veterans, but efforts are being made to improve their access to all programs, said Susy Avery, executive director of the commission. A rough estimate of homeless veterans in the state is 4,000, but there is no data on female ones, said Angela Simpson, deputy public affairs officer for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Nationally, the number of female veterans doubled from 4 to 8 percent between 1990 and 2010.