FORT WORTH - A groundbreaking effort to help homeless veterans has been outpaced by demand.
The Liberty House provides transitional housing exclusively for homeless veterans facing addictions and mental illness. It opened last March and is a partnership with Veteran's Affairs and Mental Health Mental Retardation of Tarrant County.
Liberty House estimates about half of homeless veterans served in Vietnam. Rick Shope is one of them. He hit bottom two years ago.
“I was living in my truck,” he said.”I took what money I had, about $45,000, and wasted it, just wasted it drinking.”
Shope may have lived the rest of his life on the streets, moving from shelter to shelter like an estimated 15,000 other homeless Texas veterans. Instead, he came to the Liberty House.
Navy veteran Nathan Starwalt was also among the first to move in. Unlike Shope, Starwalt did not serve overseas. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia while on active duty.
“I set a knife on the corner of the bathtub and I said, 'God, you've got to give me reasons to live,' because I hated all the voices in my head," he said. "I felt like a monster.”
Today, Starwalt has a job, has been sober a year and is rediscovering the man he was before the streets were his home.
“I just started reading the dictionary to improve my vocabulary," he said.
Liberty House is the only transitional housing for veterans in the area that requires AA meeting attendance every day, along with sobriety. In one year, the program's leaders have gone from recruiting veterans for the 30 available beds to turning them away.
Stevie Hansen is the founder of Liberty House and the chief of addiction services.
“I think it's heartbreaking," he said. "I wish I had built something with 90 rooms."
There are 94 beds available through the VA for homeless veterans in Tarrant County. Homeless veterans generally wait no more than 45 days for one to become available once they’re on the wait list. If they wait for a bed at Liberty House, however, that wait can be extended. The most recent Liberty House resident waited for two months. It’s time some desperate homeless veterans do not have.
“I worry for soldiers, for soldiers who could possibly lose their lives before they come here,” said program director Deidre Browne.
Liberty House allows veterans to stay for up to two years. One resident, Sherman Lane, reports that of the 10 men who arrived when he did, six are still clean and sober.
Liberty House is in need of supplies, including new socks, underwear and shaving supplies. Donations can be dropped off at Liberty House, located at 1501 East El Paso Street, Building B in Fort Worth. More information can also be found on Liberty House’s Facebook page.
