Transition to civilian life challenging for

homeless female veterans

By Marisa Agha
Special to The Bee
Published: Sunday, Mar. 6, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Sunday, Mar. 6, 2011 - 3:08 pm

SAN DIEGO – Ann Reeder was living in

a cardboard box on Skid Row in Los
Angeles with a bottle of Jack Daniel's
and a crack pipe in her hand when she
felt time stop and started running.

"I think I was running for my life,"

Reeder said.

Reeder, 46, spent nearly 20 years in

and out of homelessness after she was
honorably discharged from the U.S.
Army in 1987. The return to civilian
life was difficult for Reeder, who said
she struggled with the psychological
effects of a rape while she was in the
military. She became an alcoholic and
drug addict, had trouble holding down
a job and distanced herself from
family.

"We're supposed to come back and be daughters and mothers and sisters and go
back to work. Some people can," Reeder said. "The problem is how do I detach
myself from being a soldier?"

Though women are still a small percentage of homeless veterans, they're at much
higher risk of homelessness than their male veteran counterparts, and their
numbers are growing, according to a joint report by the Department of Housing
and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs released Feb. 10.

Many homeless female veterans are on the streets of Los Angeles and San Diego,
which each already contain large homeless veteran populations. As is the case
with male veterans, combat trauma, substance abuse and a difficult economy are
the most common reasons female veterans become homeless. Military sexual
trauma and violent abusive relationships also are risk factors for female veterans.

"The services and resources for women veterans need to catch up with those
already being offered to males," said Marilyn Cornell, clinical director of Veterans
Village of San Diego, a nonprofit that offers programs for veterans.
The number of homeless female
veterans seeking services at Veterans
Village of San Diego's annual Stand
Down event doubled from 26 in 2009
to 52 in 2010, Cornell said.

"That's a huge jump," Cornell said,

adding that historically many women
have not identified as veterans and
were not aware of their benefits.

Concern is growing as more veterans

return from Afghanistan and Iraq to a
bad economy on the home front.

The number of women who become

homeless after leaving the military had
doubled in the last decade to about
6,500 nationwide by the fall of 2010,
according to the Department of
Veterans Affairs.

"A lot of homeless shelters for veterans do not accept women, much less women
with children," said Genevieve Chase, founder and executive director of American
Women Veterans, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "They've just
been falling through the cracks."

The fastest growing segment of the homeless veteran population is women with
children, Chase said.

Chase, an Afghan war veteran, believes more resources for female veterans are
needed.

"I'm extremely worried that what we're doing isn't going to happen fast enough to
help the women who need it," Chase said.

Learning about the services available to her was helpful to U.S. Army veteran
Esther Bailey.

Bailey, 48, was homeless for two years until last October, when she entered
Veterans Village of San Diego. After leaving the military in 1986, Bailey was a wife
and mother and held a civilian job as a customer service representative. But years
later, she became involved in an abusive relationship and developed a substance
abuse problem. When she left the relationship, she became homeless.

"Every night, I would retreat to my tent," Bailey said. "My tent became my little
sanctuary."

Since entering the residential treatment facility at Veterans Village, Bailey has
learned that she has post-traumatic stress disorder, and may have some anxiety
issues. She's been sober for 90 days and looks forward to having a home and job
and reconnecting with family.
"My life depends on it," she said.

Reeder knows about new beginnings. After she got therapy through a
post-traumatic stress disorder group that addressed her experience as a female
veteran and met other female veterans, she got sober in 2003.

Now, she is a student at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, where she has
founded a women's veterans group that meets monthly and is also the women
veterans coordinator for Amvets Post 116 in Culver City.

"I'm really motivated because I'd like to be part of the solution," Reeder said.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/06/3452876/transition-to-civilian-life-challenging.html