BRIEF PREPARED FOR THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS May 2014 Educational Attainment Among Homeless Veterans Served by the VA Stephen Metraux, PhD stephen.metraux@va.gov EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Despite the importance of this issue, there is only rudimentary research on educational attainment among the homeless Veterans population. Drawing upon data on 185,455 Veterans who received homeless services from the VA in 2011-2014, available through the VA s Homeless Registry, this brief provides an extended examination of educational attainment, insofar as it covaries with era of military service, duration of homelessness, employment history, and mental health. Findings show that there is a very low proportion of homeless Veterans (8%) who have less than a high school education. Furthermore, half of homeless Veterans have either a college degree (10%) or have completed some college (40%). This level of educational attainment sets homeless Veterans apart from their non-veteran homeless counterparts, who have much lower levels of educational attainment. Within the homeless Veteran population, there is some disparity in educational attainment across the subgroups of homeless Veterans examined in this brief. In particular, we found that, as expected, somewhat higher levels of educational attainment were associated with those who had stronger employment histories, less extensive experiences with homelessness and had not been assessed with a substance use disorder. Lower educational attainment was not found among homeless Veterans assessed with a severe mental illness. Despite these differences, the findings suggest that, in general, remedial education is not an extensive need among homeless Veterans. The brief concludes by focusing on the implications of these findings for policy, interventions, and research related to increasing employment among homeless Veterans. Introduction The importance of education and a solid base of schooling for success and self-sufficiency as an adult is self-evident and widely recognized. Education is a key socio-economic indicator, where higher levels of education correspond with higher levels of economic well-being. More practically, educational attainment acts as a job qualification both in specific situations where specific education or training is needed to function effectively in a particular job, and more generally where a certain level of educational attainment, such as a high school diploma or college degree, is a necessary pre-requisite to be considered for a wider range of jobs. This brief examines educational attainment among homeless Veterans. All things being equal, the higher the level of educational attainment a homeless Veteran has, the better positioned he or she should be to gain employment and make a transition back into more stable housing. Gaining a better understanding of dynamics surrounding educational attainment among homeless Veterans is therefore prerequisite to a better understanding of the capital that homeless Veterans can muster towards regaining housing. This is especially so if this transition is predicated upon employment.
Despite the importance of this issue, there is only rudimentary research on educational attainment among the homeless Veterans population. This brief looks a step further with a more in-depth examination of educational attainment, insofar as it covaries with other factors. This will consist of several basic descriptive comparisons: first comparing homeless Veterans with two more general populations; and then looking at differences in educational attainment among subgroups of homeless Veterans, with breakdowns by military service era (a proxy for age groups), employment history, duration of homelessness, and behavioral health assessment (severe mental illness and substance abuse). Finally, these findings will be the basis for a discussion for broader implications and directions for further research, especially with respect to related topics concerning employment. This brief showcases data that are available in the Homeless Registry maintained by the VA s National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans (NCHAV). The Homeless Registry is a comprehensive data warehouse that collects VA data on Veterans who have been identified as homeless to enable evaluations of how programs function, dynamics of Veteran homeless stays, and how the system as a whole is progressing to end Veteran homelessness. One of the databases in this registry is the Homeless Operations Management and Evaluation System (HOMES), which tracks homeless Veterans as they move through VA s system of care and includes an in-depth assessment performed at intake into a variety of the VA s homeless programs. The information that HOMES collects on educational attainment, which is available for 185,445 Veterans who were homeless between January 2011 and March 2014 (referred to hereafter as the HOMES group), will be the basis for this brief. This sample, while large, does not include all homeless Veterans who received VA services during this time period, nor is it a representative sample. However, this group is of ample size to provide a basis for more general insights into educational attainment among all homeless Veterans. Comparison with other populations Veterans in the overall US population are better educated than non-veterans, though this is more mixed among recent Veterans, who compared to non-veterans have higher high school graduation rates but lower levels of higher education. Numerous studies looking at differences between Veterans and non-veterans in the homeless population have shown homeless Veterans to be better educated. This is primarily because of minimum educational requirements that are pre-requisite for enlistment and, secondarily, due to the availability of educational benefits to Veterans after they conclude their military service. Figure 1 (corresponding tabular results for this and all figures are available in the appendix to this brief) compares the educational attainment of homeless Veterans (based on HOMES) and of two comparison populations the overall Veteran population (taken from the 2012 American Community Survey) and a nationally representative homeless population sample (taken from the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients, or NSHAPC, collected by the US Census Bureau in 1996). While there are some limitations to directly comparing these three groups, the results here are clear and support findings from previous research. The HOMES group had lower levels of education than the overall Veteran population but had substantially higher levels of education when compared to a more general homeless population. 2
Figure 1 -Educational Attainment for 3 Groups 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% General Veteran Population n=20,906,634 HOMES - Homeless Vets n=185,455 General Homeless Population NSHAPC n=2,938 5% 0% Less than HS HS Grad Some college College degree or higher Looking directly at the levels of education attainment for the homeless Veterans is also instructive. Like the general Veteran population, there is a very low proportion of the HOMES group (8%) who had less than a high school education. Furthermore, half of the HOMES group had either a college degree (10%) or have completed some college (40%). Taken generally, this level of educational attainment sets homeless Veterans apart from their non-veteran homeless counterparts. Military service cohort (age) Completion of high school has been a preferred credential for enlistment into the military since the 1960s, and this preference was tightened during the period of the all-volunteer force in the post- Vietnam era (i.e., after 1975) to where currently only a very small percentage (less than 10%, depending on branch of service) of recruits will be accepted without a high school diploma, even if they have a GED. This group will have to score well on aptitude tests, and, once in the service, will usually have the opportunity to obtain a GED (if s/he does not already have a GED). Thus younger homeless Veterans, operationalized here by Veterans discharging during more recent service eras, should have higher levels of high school graduation than older Veterans. Figure 2 bears this out. The rate of homeless Veterans who did not complete high school was lowest among Veterans from the most recent service eras (Iraq/Afghanistan and Gulf War). Veterans from these eras also had the highest rates of college participation ( some college and BS or higher combined), though the rates of college completion were highest among the older discharge cohorts. Based on these findings, the younger, working-age homeless Veterans tend, with few exceptions, to have the minimum educational attainment (high school diploma) needed to pursue work, and majorities of those discharged in the two most recent eras have completed at least some college. 3
Figure 2 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by Military Era at Discharge 50% 45% 40% 35% Iraq/Afghanistan (2001-2014) n=37,472 30% Gulf War (1990-2000) n=32,271 25% 20% Post Vietnam (1975-1989) n=83,425 15% Vietnam (1961-1975) n=30,887 10% 5% 0% Less than HS HS Grad Some college College degree or higher Pre-Vietnam (prior to 1961) n=1,390 Duration of homelessness Another dimension along which there may be disparities in the education rates among homeless Veterans is the duration of their homelessness. Specifically, those Veterans with more extended experiences with homelessness may be less well-adapted to regain housing, and this may be reflected by lower levels of educational attainment. As Figure 3 shows, there are disparities in education levels based on duration of homelessness, though these differences are not extreme. Employment Homeless Veterans who completed the HOMES form were also asked about their work histories. This included two questions that are examined in more detail here in conjunction with educational attainment. Both of these questions are based on respondent self-report; the first concerns their perception of their employment patterns over the past three years, and the second question asks how many days, out of the 30 immediately prior to the Veteran being interviewed for HOMES, that s/he has worked. Figure 4 shows educational attainment for the primary categories of work patterns identified by HOMES respondents as best fitting the previous three years. These five categories include 155,043 respondents, or 84% of the entire HOMES group. The two largest categories, comprising the majority of the respondents, fit in the unemployed or the retired/disability categories. The third-biggest category, however, were Veterans who saw themselves as primarily full-time employed over the three-year period prior to their completing this HOMES assessment. This group had the highest rates of college education (completed degree and completed some college) and the lowest rates for non-completion of high school. Conversely, those who were unemployed had, overall, the worst levels of educational attainment (although the disparities here are not large). 4
These results show an association between self-identified employment patterns and levels of education among homeless Veterans. Figure 3 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by Duration of Homelessness 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% < 6 Months Homeless n=51,181 20% 15% 10% 6 mos. to 2 Yrs. Homeless n=29,925 2+ Years Homeless n=29,967 5% 0% Less than HS HS Grad Some college College degree or higher 50% Figure 4 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by Employment Patterns over Previous 3 Years 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% Full Time - Regular (n=28,967) Full Time - Irregular (n=15,414) Part Time - Day Labor (n=17,044) Unemployed (n=46,215) Retired/ Disability (n=48,043) 0% Less than HS HS Grad Some college College degree or higher 5
Figure 5 is consistent with the pattern shown in the previous figure. These results compare those who reported working for even one day in the past thirty days with those who did not report working at all over this time period. This table includes all 185,455 respondents, of whom only 32,539, or 18%, reported any recent work. In the same pattern as Table 5, those who worked had modestly better educational attainment than those who did not. 50% Figure 5 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by Whether Veteran Reported Any Work Over Previous 30 Days 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% Yes (n=32,539) No (n=152,906) 15% 10% 5% 0% Less than HS HS Grad Some college College degree or higher Behavioral health The final dimension considered in this brief is whether or not there are differences in educational attainment based on behavioral health disorders. Behavioral health disorders, including severe mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders, have been strongly associated with homelessness among both Veterans and non-veterans. There are two possible, countervailing hypotheses of how these disorders and educational attainment may be related. The first is that there would be lower levels of educational attainment among Veterans with these disorders because these disorders would interfere with the Veteran s ability to pursue an education. Conversely, homeless Veterans with these disorders may have higher levels of educational attainment than their counterparts without such disorders because it may be impediments related to their disability, as opposed to other disadvantages such as low educational attainment, that created an increased risk for their becoming homeless. The mental health disorders are grouped for this analysis into two very general, oft-used categories of disorders: severe mental illness (SMI), which includes psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders, and major depression; and substance use disorder (SUD), which encompasses a variety of drugs including alcohol dependency. The presence of a disorder which would place the homeless Veteran in either of these two categories was based on clinical impressions gathered by the interviewer based on questions from the HOMES assessment and, presumably, from his or her familiarity with 6
the respondent. Neither of these categories includes other mental health disorders that are often found among homeless Veterans, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders. 50% Figure 6 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by General Categories of Mental Health Diagnoses 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% Severe Mental Illness (n=33,926) Drug/Alcohol DIsorders (n=46,153) Both (n=48,755) Neither (n=56,611) 10% 5% 0% Less than HS HS Grad Some college College degree or higher The results, in Figure 6, show that the largest category were the 56,611 Veterans who showed no evidence of either an SMI or a SUD, and who comprised 31% of the total HOMES group. Seen differently, however, over two-thirds of the HOMES group were assessed with either an SMI, a SUD, or both. The results provide support for both of the previously-mentioned hypotheses. On one hand, those assessed with a SUD showed lower levels of educational attainment when compared to those who were not assessed with a SUD or an SMI. In contrast, those with an SMI had higher levels of college education (both degree completed and some college) than those who were not assessed with a SUD or an SMI. Among those assessed with both an SMI and a SUD, their levels of educational attainment were more similar to those with a SUD only than those with an SMI only. DISCUSSION Overall, levels of education among homeless Veterans are high compared to other homeless adults, with only 8% of homeless Veterans not having finished high school and half having finished at least some college education. For those of working age (i.e., those who exited the military in the most recent service eras), the levels of educational attainment are even higher. This is likely due to the education standards for enlisting in the military, which make it difficult for a Veteran (and especially a recent Veteran) to serve in the military without having first completed high school. On a population level, these findings also suggest that remedial education is not a primary need among 7
homeless Veterans. On the contrary, the results suggest that many of the younger Veterans here may be eligible for and benefit from continuing their education through the GI Bill and other VA education benefits, preferably in conjunction with rapid rehousing assistance and vocational services. There are some disparities in educational attainment by the subgroups of homeless Veterans that are studied here, although they are not large disparities. In particular, we found, as expected, that somewhat higher levels of educational attainment were associated with those who had stronger employment histories, less extensive experiences with homelessness, and among those who had not been assessed with a substance use disorder. Lower educational attainment was not found among homeless Veterans assessed with a severe mental illness. Among these findings, those that are the most salient for further research and action are those related to employment. The findings that relate higher levels of educational attainment with more extensive employment underscores the importance of educational attainment as a factor influencing the Veteran s ability to secure employment, and thus as an indirect means for exiting homelessness and regaining housing stability. However, even among those who were unemployed and appeared able to work, low educational attainment does not appear to be a widespread problem and, in general, priority should be given to more direct vocational activities. This recommendation includes homeless Veterans diagnosed with a severe mental illness, as their education level suggests that many in this subgroup may be employable and able to benefit from supportive work initiatives tailored specifically to homeless populations. 1 The need for further action and research with respect to providing vocational support for homeless Veterans is also underscored here by the low levels of employment that were found in the HOMES group despite the relatively high levels of educational attainment. VA programs such as the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) and, more generally, the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program (DVOP) are potential resources for many homeless Veterans among the HOMES group. This would be particularly applicable to the older Veterans, who had lower levels of education, and would, in general, be more challenging to reintegrate into the labor force. The extent to which homeless Veterans participate in (and benefit from) HVRP or DVOP was beyond the scope of this brief, and has remained largely unexplored. However, this presents a promising area for follow ups to this brief, as employment is related to educational attainment, and is a critical issue for ending homelessness among Veterans. Data from the VA Homeless Registry can assist with further inquiries into this area. This brief has highlighted the ability of the Homeless Registry, and in particular the HOMES database, to provide timely empirical data that can inform policy and programmatic interventions on Veteran homelessness. This is, to my knowledge, the most extensive examination of educational attainment among homeless Veterans that has yet been undertaken, and is based on data that is readily available. There is also the opportunity to further mine available data on employment-related topics. Such an inquiry would be particularly informative if it were matched with data from the 1 For more information on supportive work initiatives targeting homeless populations, see D. Long, J. Rio, & J. Rosen (2007), Employment and income supports for homeless people, in D. Dennis, G. Locke & J. Khadduri, eds., Toward Understanding Homelessness: The 2007 National Symposium on Homelessness Research, Washington DC: US Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Gary Shaheen & John Rio (2007), Recognizing Work as a Priority in Preventing or Ending Homelessness, Journal of Primary Prevention vol. 28, pps. 341 358. 8
HCRV and DVOP programs. Another direction for follow up would be drilling down into specific results presented here, as administrative data studies such as this one typically generate findings that raise many other more specific questions that beg follow up with smaller scale and more targeted inquiries. Stephen Metraux is Associate Director of Research at the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Associate Professor of Health Policy and Public Health at the University of the Sciences. Opinions expressed in this research brief represent only the position of the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 9
Tables corresponding to the Figures presented in the Brief APPENDIX Table 1 - Educational Attainment for 3 Groups General Veteran Population (1) Homeless Veterans General Homeless Population (2) Less than HS 7% 8% 39% HS Grad 29% 42% 34% Some college(3) 37% 40% 26% College degree or higher 27% 10% 2% N 20,906,634 185,445 2,938 1- General Veteran Population based on 2012 American Community Survey estimates 2- General Homeless Population based on 1996 National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC), administered by the US Bureau 3- Includes, in NSHAPC, vocational training Table 2 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by Military Era at Discharge from Service Military Cohort (by exit year) OEF/OIF (2001-2014) Gulf War (1990-2000) Post Vietnam (1975-1989) Vietnam (1961-1975) Pre-Vietnam (prior to 1961) Less than HS 3% 2% 10% 14% 22% HS Grad 41% 39% 45% 39% 39% Some college 47% 47% 37% 35% 26% College degree or higher 8% 12% 8% 11% 14% Total N 37,472 32,271 83,425 30,887 1,390 10
Table 3 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by Duration of Homelessness Less than 6 months homeless 6 months to 2 years homeless 2+ years homeless Less than HS 8% 8% 11% HS Grad 41% 42% 43% Some college 42% 41% 38% College degree or higher 10% 9% 8% N 51,181 29,925 29,967 Table 4 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by Employment Patterns over Previous 3 Years Full Time - Regular Full Time - Irregular Part Time - Day Labor Unemployed Retired/ Disability Less than HS 5% 6% 7% 8% 11% HS Grad 41% 42% 44% 45% 40% Some college 44% 43% 40% 38% 38% College degree or higher 11% 10% 9% 8% 10% N 27,967 15,414 17,044 46,215 48,403 Table 5 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by Whether Veteran Reported Any Work Over Previous 30 Days Yes No Less than HS 6% 8% HS Grad 41% 42% Some college 43% 40% College degree or higher 10% 9% N 32,539 152,906 11
Table 6 - Educational Attainment Broken Down by General Categories of Behavioral Health Diagnoses SMI Drug/Alcohol Dependency Both Neither Less than HS 7% 9% 9% 6% HS Grad 37% 47% 43% 40% Some college 43% 37% 39% 42% College degree or higher 12% 7% 8% 11% N 33,926 46,153 48,755 56,611 12