HomeFirst’s Bridge Housing Communities (BHC) Program provides safe and secure interim housing to eligible individuals enrolled in Santa Clara County and the city of San Jose Rapid Rehousing Programs. (Photo courtesy of HomeFirst Services of Santa Clara County)

At 78, Navy veteran Robin Roberts has a place to call home again thanks mainly to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. His life is far from perfect, but he has come a long way from where he was two years ago when he had no place to live after losing his business and being evicted from his home in Mountain View.

He slept in a car in the driveway of a friend’s home in Fresno for about a month, taking showers in the house when the children were in school. Roberts contacted the VA, which told him about an arrangement with a shelter operated by HomeFirst Services of Santa Clara County, a first responder for homeless people in the county. He went there because he needed to go back to the county where he once lived. 

Continue reading for free

Sign in to read this story and receive the weekly roundup in your inbox.

Or

Terms & Conditions

Success! Your account was created and you’re signed in.
Please visit My Account to manage your account.

Keith Burbank is currently a fulltime reporter covering Alameda County and Oakland news for Bay City News. He has also worked on the Data Points project for Local News Matters, finding trends and stories about the region through data. In 2019, he was a California Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, producing a series about homeless deaths in Santa Clara County. He worked as a swing shift editor for the newswire for several years as well. Outside of journalism, Keith enjoys computer programming, math, economics and music.