Tom had been in prison for years. When he was released, he struggled to get a job and a place of his own. He quickly became homeless and was homeless for over 2 years, going back and forth between shelter and camping in a tent.
Tom had an injury that required surgery and it never healed properly. He has a lot of pain and follow-up doctor appointments. For a long time, he didn’t think that he needed help. He thought he could figure out how to get housed on his own. However, his injury kept him from a lot of the types of work he did before he went to prison. Eventually, he was approved for disability benefits, and he accepted that there was a lot of work he couldn’t do anymore. The months turned into years and Tom was tired of not having housing.
Feed Louisville is a street outreach group that visits camps and distributes food. A street outreach volunteer had gotten to know Tom over several months and convinced him that he could get housing. The street outreach volunteer helped Tom complete an assessment and get referred to SVDP. Once Tom had a voucher, he became really motivated. He worked with his case manager to find a unit and was housed in 90 days. His SVDP case manager helped him get settled in his new apartment, with furniture from the SVDP Thrift Stores.
Tom told his case manager that he didn’t know how much he had missed sleeping in a real bed until the first night he slept in his new apartment.
Leave a Reply