A Long Journey To Life Off The Street

For CHRISTUS Our Daily Bread client navigator Johnathen Vallery, his mission is to get clients on a path to rehousing.

“Every time I can get a new resource for them, I run with it,” said Vallery. “Some of them, their challenges are minor, so those are the easiest ones to help. The challenging ones are the ones with mental health issues with no family.”

For clients with mental health problems, some facilities will not house them, and the State will often not take them as a ward of the state.

Then there are clients like David* who face many years on the street before they are ready for housing. “For 10 years, David had been living on the streets of Galveston, but it was because he wanted to,” said Vallery. David had everything he needed in his waterproof backpack – his laptop, his shaving kit, his WIFI, and his phone, and would only come inside during inclement weather. “He was a fixture on Broadway. You would often see him looking up at the sky.”

After 10 years street living, David came into Our Daily Bread and told Vallery he was ready for housing. “I think because he was a known fixture on the island, he was probably one of the fastest ones to get housing that I know of.”