Veterans are at increased risk of homelessness, due to their increased rates of combat-induced mental disorders like PTSD. 4% of the people experiencing homelessness in the District are veterans, but this is well below the national proportion of 9%.
This is in part thanks to Friendship Place’s Veterans First program, which provides rapid rehousing and homelessness prevention services to our country’s bravest. The program served 739 veterans in 2022, equal to 21.7% of the population of unhoused individuals in the District that year.
