Homeless Women Veterans Can Get Help At Saturday Event In Tampa

Posted Sep 7, 2011 by Howard Altman

Updated Sep 7, 2011 at 01:29 PM

On any given night, more than 900 women go to sleep in Hillsborough County without homes.

More than a third have something in common, beyond being homeless.

They are veterans of the armed forces.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, Tampa Crossroads, an organization that helps the homeless, will be holding Stand Down For Women Veterans at Al Lopez Park, 4602 N. Himes Ave., Tampa.

About 200 women veterans are expected to attend, according to Tampa Crossroads Executive Director Sara Romeo. Aside from a free lunch, the event will offer the women services like job and life skills training, legal and debt counseling, assistance with obtaining documents like drivers licenses and social security cards and health screening.

The problem of homeless women veterans is increasing, says Romeo, largely because the job market right now is so bad for everyone, but worse for vets.

While unemployment in Tampa as a whole stands at about 12 percent, says Romeo, it is approaching 15 percent for vets.

Another stress factor for women is that often, when they come home from serving, they are “stepping back into their role of mom,” says Romeo.

“Most of the women we are seeing now are younger, with younger children,” she says. “They have minor dependent children who may have been with dad, or grandma while the mother was serving overseas, and now they are taking over custody of their children, but there is a serious lack of affordable housing and jobs. Now mom has two children who pretty much want to eat every day.”

In addition to providing services, Tampa Crossroads tries to connect the homeless veterans with mentors – successful women like retired Command Sgt. Maj. Cynthia Pritchett, the longest serving female CSM in the service – to show that there is life after discharge.

The organization also makes its address and telephone number available for women to give to prospective employers, and connects them with organizations that provide free cell phones.

“It’s hard to get a job if you have no home and no way to be reached,” says Romeo.

The problem is likely even more dire than the numbers indicate.

According to statistics provided by the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County, there are more than 17,000 homeless people on any given night in the county. Of those, about 5 percent are veterans, and of those, 35 percent are women.

But the numbers may be skewed, according to the coalition, because typically, veterans are reluctant to include information about their service during counts of homeless.

The Stand Down For Women Veterans runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

You can just show up, but if you can, give Tampa Crossroads a call at (813) 526-4213 so they can get a headcount for lunch. Or you can email tampawomenvets@gmail.com or go to the website, TampaCrossroads.com