Diminishing Racial Disparities in Recurrent Homelessness Risk Among Vulnerable Subpopulations: The Case of Older Adult Veterans

• In Event: Aging and the Life Course Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): 8: Living Arrangements and Housing (In)stability

Abstract

Racial disparities in recurrent homelessness risk are well-documented, and recent work suggests these disparities may be largest among the most vulnerable populations, including older adults. Efforts to reduce racial disparities in housing security among older adults may benefit from identifying subgroups of older adults for whom racial gaps in risk are reduced and examining why. Veterans of the U.S. Armed Services may constitute one such group. To this end, analyses of Los Angeles County’s Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) quantify levels of– and racial disparities in– recurrent homelessness risk among older adults (age 60+) who are U.S. military veterans versus non-veterans. Three key explanations for why levels and racial disparities may be attenuated among veterans are empirically examined. These proposed explanations include veterans’: (1) increased access to a healthcare system that more equitably manages disabilities associated with homelessness risk than alternative systems; (2) elevated enrollment rates in housing-oriented interventions like permanent supportive housing (PSH) and rapid rehousing (RRH); (3) and reduced exposure to the most structurally disadvantaged urban areas, given the distinct geographic distribution of veteran-focused services. Linear probability models based on individual-level HMIS data confirm that levels of– and racial disparities in— recurrent homelessness risk are lower among male veterans than among otherwise-similar male older adults. Descriptive mediation analyses attribute these desirable outcomes to veterans’ higher probability of accessing housing-oriented interventions like RRH and Black veterans’ lower probability of receiving homelessness services in the most structurally disadvantaged area of Los Angeles compared to Black non-veterans.

Author

• Jared N. Schachner, University of Southern California