Dr. Ace Carter

Silent Struggles: Examining Mental Illness as a Root Cause of Chronic Homelessness Among Veterans in Urban Phoenix, Arizona

Chronic homelessness among veterans is often described as a housing shortage. This study argues that in urban Phoenix it is more accurately understood as an untreated mental health crisis expressed through housing loss. Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, the research pairs a large de-identified administrative dataset with in-depth veteran interviews to examine how untreated mental illness, service-connected trauma, and fragmented care systems compound into long-term housing instability. Findings point toward integrated, trauma-informed, low-barrier interventions — and toward the faith and community organizations already positioned to deliver them.