Valor Home opens to homeless veterans

By Evan Goodenow

The three months a Navy veteran said he spent living in a tent this summer were demoralizing.

“I felt like I was at the lowest point of my life,” said Brian, a 43-year-old veteran who asked that his last name not be used because he didn’t want to embarrass his family. “That was a rock-bottom-type thing.”

Brian, who served from 1990 to 1992, now has a temporary home. The Lorain native is one of four residents at Valor Home, a 30-bed transitional house for homeless veterans which opened at 221 W. 21st St. on Dec. 22.

Unlike many homeless veterans, Brian said he isn’t an alcoholic or drug addict and doesn’t suffer from mental illness. Brian said he became homeless last year due to joblessness, which he partially blames on his criminal record. Brian has 2002 convictions for forgery, theft and receiving stolen property.

The father of three also has a conviction for failure to pay child support.

Brian said he wants to work, but the convictions and lacking a home made finding employment hard. Brian said he was able to move into a veterans’ shelter in Kent in August before moving into a friend’s home in Lorain in September to be closer to his 3-year-old daughter.

He said his goals while at Valor Home are to find full-time work and save enough money to rent an apartment.

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