His homelessness is in the rear view mirror
After a huge car crash, Roberto Rodriguez had a long recovery in the hospital, a stay which drained his savings. When the money ran out, he lost everything and ended up on the street. But thanks to St. Vincent de Paul’s workforce housing at Rosalie’s Place, Roberto didn’t have to experience homelessness for long. Rosalie's Place gave him a bed, a safe place to be while he found another job, and a chance to save any earnings to help him afford his own housing again.
Roberto had a good job and a solid, stable life. In the 90s, he served in the armored division of the U.S. Army and even served a tour driving tanks in Kuwait during the Gulf War. A few years ago, he had long hung up the tank keys and was driving a semi-truck, often taking routes down I-10 to Casa Grande and back.
On one of these runs in 2023, a car cut him off on the highway, and the next thing he remembers is waking up in the hospital 15 days later.
His body needed time to recover — a lot of it. After waking up (which the doctors weren’t sure he was going to), he needed to fully stabilize, then go to rehabilitation and recovery to gain full use back of his body.
Fortunately, because he was on the job when the accident happened, his job covered all his medical bills, so Roberto wasn’t drowning in tens of thousands of dollars of medical debt. However, they didn’t cover all his other expenses, such as rent, food, transportation, or anything else. He had to rely on what he had in savings, which were depleting quickly.
“I couldn't go back to drive,” he said, “and then I was out of a job, and paying bills was hard.”
When his savings ran out, he couldn’t pay rent, and he had to survive on the street. He spent more than a year experiencing homelessness, taking refuge in shelters when he could. It's a time he doesn't remember fondly and doesn't speak of much.
However, things started to slowly look up when he started going to Key Campus. There, partner organizations gave him temporary shelter, but when they saw his drive and desire to exit homelessness, they referred him to SVdP, whose workforce housing at Rosalie's Place is structured to support homeless adults who either have a job or are actively seeking employment.
It was the perfect match for Roberto because he had no desire to stay on the street. All he needed was a stable place to act as home base so he could find a job, save up, and get an apartment without having to worry about the dangers of surviving nights on the street or finding places to wash up before job interviews and shifts. The shelter also has connections with local organizations and training programs to give residents hard skills to find better paying, more stable jobs so that they never have to face the threat of homelessness again.
In addition to the physical support, Roberto especially appreciated the emotional support, especially from case managers who help residents walk through the steps of rebuilding their life, from training to applying to jobs.
“They always go the extra mile to make you feel supported to get done what you need to get done,” he said.
After a couple months of recovering from living on the street, Roberto found a job working as a bus driver for a charter bus company. He loves it and the fact that it means he gets to travel again. So far, he's been all over Arizona, made a few trips to California, and even a couple to Las Vegas.
After that, it wasn’t long until he had saved enough for an apartment. He got his keys at the beginning of May and has been living on his own since.
“Man, it was a big step,” he said. “I want to see the people who helped me again and thank them. ‘Thanks so much for the help.’ They've been amazing.”
