Veteran’s path from homeless to homeowner

The list of people who helped Veteran Rosa Terry go from homeless to owning a home is a long one.

From the VA nurse who first told her about the HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program to the psychologist who helped her get a handle on her posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the social workers who assisted her with paperwork there were always people ready to help Terry get back on her feet.

“I just depleted everything, and then God sent me some angels,” she shared.

A career caring for others

Terry joined the Army Reserve in 1983 to help further her education. She first served as a dental technician and, later, once she became a licensed practical nurse, assisted physicians at mass medical events.

Though Terry suffered from chronic pain after she was discharged, she built a career caring for others, working for many years as a nurse and an elementary school teacher.

“When you’re young, you just keep on working through the pain. You do what you have to do take care of your kids,” said Terry, who shared two children with her husband, a Vietnam War Veteran.

Help when it’s needed most

After 40 years of marriage, her husband died in 2022 from complications from Agent Orange exposure. The event triggered her service-related PTSD; paying to have him buried in a military cemetery taxed her financial resources.

With costs mounting, she lost her home and began sleeping in her truck. It was a cold winter and soon Terry was forced to go to the emergency room with pneumonia.

This is where Terry’s angels stepped in. A social worker from the New Orleans VA Medical Center refused to discharge her back to homelessness so she was given temporary shelter in a hotel until she could secure more permanent housing through HUD-VASH.

Through a HUD-VASH project-based Housing Choice Voucher, she soon landed in a safe and supportive place, an apartment complex filled with Veterans who also were contending with homelessness.

But Terry promised herself and her VA case worker that she wouldn’t be staying there for long.

Finding a home

Since her husband’s VA disability hadn’t yet come through, Terry couldn’t apply for a VA loan, but she could apply for one through the Federal Housing Administration.

Terry struggled through the paperwork, but she felt welcomed and supported at VA anytime she needed help, whether that was with her application, seeing her therapist or simply sitting in a room set aside for Veterans who need space and quiet. At long last, her VA orthopedist even diagnosed her ongoing pain as fibromyalgia.

After going to several banks, Terry found one that would approve her loan application. Like the nurse who first told her about HUD-VASH, the loan officer had also lost her Veteran husband and was sympathetic to her situation.

Just a year and a half after being homeless, Terry was able to purchase her home in September 2024.

These days, she spends her time going back to visit the Veterans who live in the apartment complex where she was first housed, helping to spread the word to other Veterans about the programs that are available to help them in their time of need.

Once her husband’s disability is approved she hopes to be able to travel to visit her children and grandchildren.

“I thank God I had my military background because I never would have thought years later that I would become homeless and that military background would help get me off the street. A lot of people don’t give the HUD-VASH program enough credit, but they do a lot and help a lot of people. If you want to change your life and do better, you can,” she said.

Learn about VA programs 

• If you are a Veteran who is homeless or at risk for homelessness or need to connect with a Veterans justice outreach specialist, call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-4AID-VET (877-424-3838).
• Visit the VA Homeless Programs website to learn about housing initiatives and other programs for Veterans exiting homelessness.
• Check out the Ending Veteran Homelessness podcast to learn more about what VA is doing about Veteran homelessness. 
• Learn how to get involved with housing homeless Veterans.
• Subscribe to the Homeless Programs Office newsletter to receive monthly updates about programs and supportive services for Veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness.