When we talk about homeless veterans, it’s not often female homeless veterans that first jump into our minds.

That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, female veterans make up the fastest-growing segment of the nation’s homeless veteran population.

Last year that population totaled more than 40,000 on a single night in January. About 9 percent of them — 3,600 — were female veterans. That’s up from 2 percent the previous year.

The exponential growth of the homeless female veteran population, which increased by 7 percent compared to 1 percent for their male counterparts, affects Butler County as well.

That’s why a project like Robin’s Home, a proposed group home at the corner of Pearl and Elm streets that would cater specifically to homeless female veterans, is so vital.

In Butler and communities across America, veterans are suffering and struggling to make their way in the world. That is — shamefully for the county that owes them a debt of gratitude for their service — nothing new. But the surge in female veterans struggling with issues like homelessness is very new.

Between 2010 and 2015, the number of female veterans who used VA programs to end homelessness tripled, according to the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans. By 2025 the center estimates that nearly 40,000 female veterans will be battling homelessness.

The Robin’s Home project is a worthy endeavor that seeks to serve a population of veterans that struggles with many of the same issues their male counterparts do, but for different reasons.

Perhaps they are among the 1 in 4 women the VA’s National Center for PTSD says respond “yes” when asked if they experienced sexual trauma or assault in the military.

Many female veterans are also caregivers for their children and, like male veterans who often don’t seek help because of a sense of self-reliance and pride, find it difficult to ask for a hand up.

Even when they do manage to ask, there is a paucity of resources that specifically cater to female veterans.

The organizers of Robin’s Home are working to change that fact, and offer help to these women and their families.

We were saddened to hear of the cease-and-desist order city officials issued against renovations on the home at Pearl and Elm streets, and ashamed to learn that some residents had come forward to speak against the group home being allowed to operate in the neighborhood.

We can’t in good conscience argue that the city should abandon its permitting process and zoning rules. The home must clear the hurdles like any other facility.

But we can and do argue that neighbors’ complaints and concerns, which range from parking to the specter nearby drug activity, are not reasons to deny the home an operating permit.

Butler, which was the site of many of the county’s 92 fatal drug overdoses last year, does indeed have a drug problem. That doesn’t mean the city should bar recovery homes or shelters from operating within its limits.

Similarly, many neighborhoods in Butler can relate to the problem of a parking crunch. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t welcome new arrivals into their communities.

Robin’s Home is renovating and beautifying a property that is clearly in need of repair. It would house families and female veterans who want to make a positive change in their lives. Organizers say they would put in place substantive controls — daily supervision and exterior cameras — to help make that positive change a reality.

We support that mission, and we hope the city does as well.