The Rental Housing Needs and Experiences of Veterans With Disabilities

What is it about?

This article presents an overview of the rental housing search and occupancy experiences of Veterans with disabilities. Utilizing a mixed-mode survey design, 83 usable responses were obtained. Measures of discrimination, accessibility, and demographics were used as independent variables to explore relationships with housing satisfaction using one-way ANOVA and multiple regression. In addition, chi-square tests were conducted to determine the association between perceived discrimination and independent variables. Findings suggest that Veterans with disabilities are facing challenges in locating and occupying suitable rental housing with factors such as discrimination impacting housing satisfaction. Implications for policy-makers, Veterans, and researchers are discussed.

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Why is it important?

This study explores the rental housing experience of Veterans with disabilities in order to better understand their a) housing satisfaction, b) rental housing search process, experiences with housing discrimination and awareness of the Fair Housing Amendments Act provisions. Individuals with disabilities face the reality of limited accessible and affordable housing options and often experience discrimination in the pursuit of suitable housing, which are issues that are well-recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This research study reveals the importance of studying the rental experience of Veterans with disabilities, and the challenges that they may experience in finding and maintaining suitable housing. For example, 69% of respondents had low expectation in their ability to find housing that would accommodate their disabilities. In addition, 29% of respondents believed that they had faced discrimination, yet very few reported the incident. Given the limited amount of literature on the topic and the need for greater awareness of veterans housing needs in general, the article is an important contribution to the body of work relating to Veteran and their housing needs. The urgency of the issues addressed in the articles begs for further exploration on the topic.

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