OLYMPIA, Wash. – The United States has been in three major wars in the last fifty years, resulting in the US being home to about 18 million veterans. This Fourth of July, thousands of those vets will sleep on the street.
About 4% of veterans were homeless or experienced housing instability in 2018 according to the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (VA). A disproportionately high number of those veterans were ethnic minorities and people over the age of 55.
There were about 35,574 homeless vets in Jan. 2023, a 7% increase from 2022. Of those veterans, 15,507 of them were not living in shelters.
In Spokane, there were 120 homeless veterans in Jan. 2024, a slight decrease from the year before. In King County, the largest region by population in Washington, about 6% of the homeless population is comprised of veterans.
For homeless veterans, the Fourth of July is a particularly difficult day due to the negative impact fireworks have on service members who experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder according to the VA.
While the federal government collects data on homeless veterans every year, there is no precise count of how many vets could be negatively impacted by Fourth of July celebrations.
