According to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki, “Those who have served this nation as veterans should never find themselves on the streets, living without care and without hope.” Homefull agrees and we are proud to be one of more than 600 community organizations nationwide that the VA works with to provide transitional housing to homeless veterans.
One of our programs for veterans is our
VA Per Diem Opportunity Housing program which pairs two veterans to live as roommates in one of 5 single-family homes in Dayton. Our case manager makes daily visits to the homes to assist the vets with independent living skills, improved linkage with our local VA, and saving for a move to permanent housing. Since its beginning in January 2008, our VA Per Diem program has helped 14 vets successfully move into permanent housing.
Robert will be one of the next veterans to move on. His progress is exceptional in that he is planning a move to homeownership.
After 4 years in the US Army Reserves and 1 year of active duty, Robert was honorably discharged in 1980. He then spent years working, yet faced challenges that left him, in his own words, “lower than low.” He traveled from California to Georgia to Florida, graduating from programs which addressed spirituality, anger management, and recovery. The lessons learned stuck, and in 2008 Robert came to Ohio where his aging mother had been placed into a nursing home. He entered the homeless shelter system in Dayton on Memorial Day and entered into our VA Per Diem transitional housing program over the July 4th weekend––2 holidays not lost on a veteran.
Robert has been a model client in the program, working full-time at a good job, paying off debts, saving money, staying healthy, and giving back by participating as a member of the VA’s Mental Health Advisory Council Board and mentoring other vets.
Currently, Robert is working together with CountyCorp in his pursuit of homeownership. On reflection of his experiences, Robert said, “In those [other] programs I entered homeless, and no matter how good I did, I still left homeless. Homefull’s program offered me a larger goal to work toward, a light at the end of the tunnel that was permanent housing and stability.”