Back in July, the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness sought to identify how many homeless veterans with disabilities lived in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties. The goal was to get them into a place to live. According to the commission, that goal is now a reality for many of those homeless vets.

“God has been good to me,” said Albert Kearney, Vietnam War veteran.

Albert Kearney has been homeless off and on for at least 20 years. We took a tour of the apartment that the commission helped find for him Saturday evening.

 “Look at this! I got my own bath!” said Kearney.   

Kearney fought in the Vietnam War. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and other disabilities.

 “When I got out of the service, I got rejected, I got spit on, no one cared about me,” said Kearney.  

Soon after, Albert became homeless. He was without anything for so long, he thought things couldn’t get better. At one point, he thought about taking his own life.

But then, volunteers with the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness found him.

In July, hundreds of volunteers were looking for homeless veterans living on the streets. Albert was found under the I-4 overpass on Lee Road. The Commission put him in a hotel room and the CEO Andrae Bailey told him he would take care of him.

“He said don’t worry, you will never be homeless again,” said Kearney.

Albert soon moved into an apartment in Orlando. He has lived there for three months and is enjoying life again.

The CEO of the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness said he has filed notice with the federal government that nearly 1,000 chronically homeless veterans have been housed. The federal government will then review the data to determine if that is true.

“If we stop trying to fix people while they are on the streets,” said Bailey, “And realize that until you get housing, you are never going to have that starting place for transformation.”   

Bailey also said veterans who receive housing use about 30 percent of their income towards housing. Many of them also receive subsidies from their disabilities.  

The Central Florida Commission on Homelessness said it will now focus on how to help veteran’s families and those who are homeless in the community.

Bailey said if you know of a veteran who is homeless, dial 211 on any phone.