Overcoming Addiction and Homelessness
When Stacey got in touch with Volunteers of America, he was living at the VA Domiciliary and had a month to find a home. His past struggles with addiction and homelessness had left him with minimal support and a poor credit score, which made finding a place to live a challenge.
Fortunately, Veterans like Stacey are the people our Veterans Services programs are designed to help. A VOA case manager worked with Stacey to help him apply for rentals on his smartphone and encouraged him to keep trying when he felt overwhelmed and defeated by rejections.
With the help of his case manager, Stacey was finally able to find an apartment that would work for him. Although his credit score would typically disqualify him from this apartment, the landlord graciously agreed to meet with Stacey and see if he would be a good fit.
Stacey was understandably nervous about the meeting. Our case manager helped him to download Zoom and taught him how to use it. When the time came for the meeting Stacey was calm, thoughtful, and honest. The landlord appreciated these traits and agreed to rent the apartment to this Veteran in need of support as he continued working on himself.
Stacey is now living happily in his new home and is looking forward to what life has in store for him.