CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) — A federal program aimed at helping homeless veterans in Texas received a $1 million grant Friday.
"Sleeping on the streets can get you killed because you're trying to find a safe haven and there's nothing," said Walter Coleman, a formerly homeless veteran. "Just like you have the rats that run underneath the piers and stuff, you have human rats at night that will prey on you."
Coleman served in the U.S. Army in the late 1960s. After several hard knocks, he found himself without a home and was finally ready to change his life.
"I was going through bad relationships. Got all bummed out. Turned into a drunken bum," Coleman said.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with the VA, recently announced more than $1 million have been allocated for homeless veterans in Texas, which means 177 veterans will receive vouchers and seven of those veterans are here in the Coastal Bend.
For veterans like Coleman and more than 130 others in the city, the program is helping them reclaim their lives. Coleman's case worker, Texas Valley Coastal Bend Homeless Program Manager Carrie Myers, said it's not just rental housing assistance.
"We work with the veterans on their housing and not just their housing," Myers said. "Their income. Their medical needs. Their mental health needs. Substance abuse needs. Legal needs. Support system needs."
Myers said they meet with the veterans when they seek medical help at the VA clinic and if they qualify, that's when they are accepted into the program. She said the VA is about to conduct a downtown survey on how many homeless veterans are living on the streets of Corpus Christi.
"We need to know every single veteran that is in this community that is homeless, because there are so many programs with our community partners that we can connect them with that we want to be able to take care of every veteran," Myers said.
That survey is planned for Nov. 2.
Coleman's advice? Veterans should seek out the VA.
"They're the only people you can go to," Coleman said.
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