Share

Despite a slight drop in overall homelessness in West Virginia, a recent report found that there are now more veterans without permanent shelter in the Mountain State. 

The Charleston Daily Mail reported that recent data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that there were 329 former servicemembers in West Virginia without a long-term place to live in 2013, an increase from the 268 veterans living in similar situations in 2012. It's the highest number of homeless veterans without permanent housing in the last three years.

Amanda Sisson, the assistant director of the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, noted that most of the homeless veterans in the state served in the Vietnam War.

"It's that era of veterans who are experiencing homelessness," Sisson stated to the news source. "But I also think we are going to see a lot of younger veterans coming back who suffer from traumatic brain injuries (and other issues) become homeless."

According to the HUD report, there were more than 57,000 homeless veterans in 2013, with 60 percent of them staying in shelters or transitional housing programs.