New funding supports the study of veterans-specific legal services and their value in preventing homelessness

Bryan-College Station, Texas — The Texas A&M Health Institute for Healthcare Access has received a new grant to examine the challenges faced by the thousands of military veterans experiencing homelessness in Texas. This grant is one of roughly 84 awarded nationwide to study how legal issues affect veterans’ health and housing stability.

As a collaboration with the Family and Veterans Advocacy Clinic at the Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth, the project sees law students directly assist eligible veterans under the supervision of a licensed attorney and faculty member at the school. These students will work with their supervisors to identify individual barriers and provide legal assistance to help them secure stable housing.

The institute will lead the project’s research component, which will analyze the legal casework to assess the outcomes and impact.

“Legal services and health care are deeply connected,” said Keegan Warren, JD, LLM, executive director of the Institute for Healthcare Access and principal investigator (PI) for the project. “Stable housing, for instance, is linked to better management of chronic conditions, improved treatment adherence and better overall health. Housing is often taken for granted, but it has a profound impact on the distribution of disease as well as health outcomes and even mortality.”

Funded through the Legal Services for Homeless Veterans and Veterans At-Risk for Homelessness (LSV-H) Grant Program, the research will study four specific areas:

• Protection against wrongful eviction

• Erasing or resolving harmful legal status

• Counsel on consumer rights

• Appeal of denied veterans’ benefits

“Veterans experiencing homelessness may face legal challenges that implicate housing,” said Karon Rowden, JD, senior lecturer and staff attorney at the School of Law’s legal clinic and co-PI on the project. “Wrongful evictions, outdated criminal records, denied benefits and predatory consumer debt can all present barriers to the kind of financial stability necessary for remaining housed. The project allows us to provide the legal tools necessary to help veterans move forward.”

The project’s start date is Oct. 1, and data collection and analysis conducted over two years will evaluate the clinic’s effectiveness in addressing and preventing veteran homelessness and re-entry into homelessness.

“Although our study focuses on a single region, its implications and discoveries are national in scope,” Warren said. “We’re not just providing a service but also building empirical evidence for scalable, rights-based interventions that advance housing stability and health for our nation’s veterans.” 

ABOUT THE TEXAS A&M INSTITUTE FOR HEALTHCARE ACCESS

The Texas A&M Health Institute for Healthcare Access, founded in 2023, unites health and law experts from Texas A&M University to identify and remove critical barriers to timely, effective and affordable health care. A collaboration between Texas A&M University Health Science Center (Texas A&M Health), Texas A&M University College of Medicine and Texas A&M University School of Law, the Institute for Healthcare Access leverages place-based clinical and community service, collaborative research, interdisciplinary education and conferences and convenings to bridge gaps in health care access. The institute is dedicated to reshaping health care delivery and policy to foster healthier, more equitable communities across Texas and the United States—improving education, expanding economic opportunities and enhancing quality of life. To learn more about the institute, visit healthcare-access.tamu.edu.