Bill moved into his CASA apartment as soon as construction was completed and the complex opened. “I love it here,” he says. “We take care of each other.”

Bill’s path to CASA was a difficult one. “I used to live in a house, owned my own business, and lost everything,” he remembers. “I moved into South Wilmington Street Shelter and lived there for about two years.” Once he moved in, Bill suffered with serious health problems that landed him in the hospital several times. Having a place to rest and friends who checked in on him was critical to his recovery, he says. “I feel very supported now,” he says. “I can’t believe how far I’ve come.”

A proud veteran, Bill’s uniform and dog tags are displayed in the hallway of his apartment. He lives in a community of veterans, where each tenant has experienced homelessness and lives with a disability of some kind. That shared experience is really important to him. “It’s a safe place,” he explains, “and the people who live here are support for each other. If we have a problem we can’t figure out, we’ll just knock on a door of one of our neighbors. They’re not just neighbors, they’re friends.”

Today, Bill is healthy and happy. “I’ll be 64 in November,” he smiles, “but I feel like 40!” His well-being isn’t just a result of access to health care and social support, he says. It comes from a sense of worth and value. “CASA doesn’t look at homeless people like, ‘oh, you’re a waste.’ When I was homeless, I was just in another world. I didn’t know where to go day by day. But here, I know what’s gonna happen. And I’ve got my life. I didn’t have a life back then. But just having a place to live is such support, and a reason for living.”

Hear Bill tell his story in his own words: