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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than 25 percent of the homeless population in the United States are military veterans, although they represent only 11 percent of the civilian adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

On any given night last year, nearly 196,000 veterans slept on the street, in a shelter or in transitional housing, the study by the Homelessness Research Institute found.

"Veterans make up a disproportionate share of homeless people," the report said.

"This is true despite the fact that veterans are better educated, more likely to be employed and have a lower poverty rate than the general population."

The National Alliance to End Homelessness, which includes the Homelessness Research Institute as its research and education arm, planned a press conference Thursday to discuss the study's findings.

"These findings highlight the need to provide veterans with the proper housing and supportive services to prevent homelessness from occurring in the first place," said Nan Roman, the organization's president. "If we can do that, then we can greatly reduce the number of homeless veterans in general."

The states with the highest number of homeless veterans include Louisiana, California and Missouri, according to the research. Washington, D.C., also had a high rate.

About 44,000 to 64,000 veterans are classified as "chronically homeless" -- homeless for long periods or repeatedly.

Other veterans -- nearly 468,000 -- are experiencing "severe housing cost burden," or paying more than half their income for housing, thereby putting them at a high risk for homelessness.

The rates of the burden of housing costs were highest in Rhode Island, California, Nevada and Hawaii, but Washington, D.C., had the highest rate, according to the organization.

To reduce chronic homelessness among veterans by half, the report concludes housing coupled with supportive services should be increased by 25,000 units, and the number of housing vouchers for veterans should be increased by 20,000.

Some veterans, like Jason Kelley find themselves in a catch-22, not able to find a job because of the lack of an apartment, and not being able to get an apartment because of not having a job, The Associated Press reported.

"The only training I have is infantry training and there's not really a need for that in the civilian world," AP quoted Kelley as saying in a phone interview. In addition, he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said, according to AP. Kelley served in Iraq with the Wisconsin National Guard.

A new Gallup poll released by Fannie Mae showed that nearly a quarter of veterans, or 24 percent, report having been concerned they may not have a place to live. Eighty-six percent of poll respondents believe homelessness among veterans is either staying at the same level or increasing.

In addition, 61 percent of poll respondents believe veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are at least as likely to become homeless as veterans of previous wars.

The poll of 1,005 veterans was conducted September 4-October 17 and has a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

At the National Alliance to End Homelessness event, Fannie Mae will announce a $200,000 grant to the Common Ground organization that will enable the construction of more permanent housing units for veterans.

"Our veterans have served America, and America must serve them," said Daniel Mudd, president and CEO of Fannie Mae, in a statement.

Common Ground is a nonprofit developer of housing and other solutions to prevent and end homelessness, according to the Fannie Mae statement.

Actually, it's not all that surprising... We're not that better educated then average joe fryjock at McDicks.

Plus, with the state of VA affairs as they are, you're lucky if you get seen by the VA, much less taken care of. That nagging PTSD and the fact you're crippled? Personal problem. Sad that you can't get a job, but hey tough shit.

A lot of us just aren't equipped to work in the civilian world once we leave the military.

Hmmm, Yes we are. All of us have G.E.Ds or graduated High school. There is a quiet a number of high school drop outs flipping burgers. 78% or so of Military persons graduated High school without needing a do over, that is about 5% higher then the general population. Also a higher percentage of us graduate college or get some college. For the most though when we crash, we crash hard.

The numbers pretty much disagree with you.

Saddy I must agree. What the fuck happened?

Bullshit, from what I've seen most of us are better equipped then the ones who spent their entire lives there.

The problem is that vets are not getting proper treatment for injuries substained in service. PTSD is a injury.

a large percentage of the people I know are fairly dumb mother fuckers.

What we do in the military we could never get away with in the real world.

My dad retired from the military almost a decade ago and is still piddling around trying to figure out what the fuck to do with himself.

Does it shock you that a large amount of former military people turn into military contractors

frigidmagi wrote:Nor could I call the Lt a dumbass bullcocksucker.

B4UTRUST wrote: I'll concede the point based on numbers, but given my experiance in the military, a large percentage of the people I know are fairly dumb mother fuckers.

Fuck if I know, Congress, the politics, the people. Most of em stopped giving two fucks about us after we've ceased being useful to their cause of the moment.

In some regards, yes, we're better equipped then your average joe. We have more discipline, integrity and work ethic then a large percentage of the people out there.

But the way the military is set up and how it works is nothing at all like the civilian sector. What we do in the military we could never get away with in the real world. It's a fucking culture shock to say the least. Some adapt better then others.

My dad retired from the military almost a decade ago and is still piddling around trying to figure out what the fuck to do with himself. I could list over a dozen people off the top of my head right now who are begging to get back into the military because they're not capable of surviving in the real world.

Does it shock you that a large amount of former military people turn into military contractors? Hell I've got a shop full of contractors and every last one of them was prior service. So once they got out, they're still working for the military because it's the only place they fit in. *shrugs* I know that's not everybody or probably a majority, but I've seen enough of it with people I know and work with that it's starting to scare the shit out of me.

And I agree whole heartedly that we need better treatment for shit that happens to us while we're in. I've read too many case files recently about how the military and the VA fucks us over as soon as something bad happens to us. We fucking kill ourselves for this country then the ones who come home broken get hurt that much worse by our own people. It's a tragedy, really.