Homeless Statistics - Australia ~ Canada ~ United Kingdom ~ United States

HOMELESSNESS AMONG ELDERLY & VET-PERSONS
Homeless persons aged 50-65 frequently fall between the cracks of governmental safety nets: while not technically old enough to qualify for Medicare, their physical health, assaulted by poor nutrition and severe living conditions, may resemble that of a 70-year-old.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/elderly.html

Approximately 40% of homeless men are veterans, although veterans comprise only 34% of the general adult male population.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that on any given night, 200,000 veterans are homeless, and 400,000 veterans will experience homelessness during the course of a year.
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/veterans.html

HEALTH CARE JUSTICE

The intersection of poor health and homelessness is irrefutable. Untreated disease and disability contribute to homelessness, are consequent to it, and present barriers to its ultimate end.

The consequences of restricted access to comprehensive health care are reflected in extremely high rates of both chronic and acute health problems among people experiencing homelessness. Homeless people's access to appropriate treatment and care is hindered dramatically by a lack of health insurance coverage. Absent a payment method, most people experiencing homelessness are reliant on health care safety net systems that have been established for delivering health care services to uninsured people.

Regrettably, people without housing encounter barriers to accessing and utilizing these systems. While a number of community-based organizations have responded to these access and utilization barriers to "mainstream" services by developing health services programs specifically for people without housing, they have never been funded at levels that even begin to approach the health needs of all people experiencing homelessness.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/health/index.html

United Kingdom Homeless Statistics
If you can work out what the situation is in the UK, please let us know. Their stats are smoke and mirrors and completely unbelievable in my opinion.

Either they don't know (most likely), or don't want to say in plain statistics, or I'm just not getting it.

Homelessness is a devastating experience for families. It disrupts virtually every aspect of family life, damaging the physical and emotional health of family members, interfering with children’s education and development, and frequently resulting in the separation of family members.

The dimensions, causes, and consequences of family homelessness are discussed below. An overview of policy issues and a list of resources for further study are also provided.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/families.html

United States Homeless Statistics
homelessness -
which translates to 6.3% of the population of people living in poverty.

More to experienced homelessness - which translates to almost 10% of the population of people living in poverty.

http://www.samhsa.gov/Matrix/statistics_homeless.aspx