Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on Operation Reveille:
POLITICS
‘Operation Reveille’ wraps homeless veterans in help
BY CHRISTOPHER O’DONNELL
Tribune Staff
Published: November 11, 2015 | Updated: November 12, 2015 at 08:53 AM
TAMPA — Walking into the crowded hall, David Silva couldn’t stop himself scanning the room for possible threats.
After 11 years and three tours of duty with the 82nd Airborne Division, fear of a sniper or a bomb blast is still ingrained in him.
Now 43, he was discharged 10 years ago.
Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, Silva has flitted between jobs and relationships since becoming a civilian. He has been homeless the past 18 months, sleeping on the couches of friends and former girlfriends, unable to find regular work.
“I’m tired of this cycle,” he said.
On the day America celebrates its veterans, homeless advocates set a new target of the end of December to find homes for Silva and an estimated 150 other homeless veterans in Hillsborough County through the second annual Operation Reveille.
Working with the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County, the Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative had originally set a target of housing every homeless veteran in the county by Veterans Day. Meeting the revised date would still mean the county has done its part toward meeting a 2010 national initiative by the White House and Veterans Affairs Department to end homelessness among veterans by the end of this year.
Around 50 veterans and roughly 400 volunteers wearing bright orange Operation Reveille t-shirts attended the Veterans Day event at Port Tampa Bay.
Veterans seeking help were “buddied up” with volunteers to guide them through applications for housing and a daunting array of other social services including employment, access to medical care, financial advice, legal help, food parcels and clothing. A job fair for veterans is planned for today.
Organizers had up to 40 renovated homes or apartments ready for vets to move into Wednesday with homes assigned based on the most extreme need. They expect more homes to be ready over the next six weeks. The homes will come furnished through a donation from Ashley Furniture Homestore.
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Those who found housing Wednesday were given a food bag from Feeding Tampa Bay, a non-profit group, and a tote bag of move-in items like cleaning materials and laundry detergent. The Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa Inc. set up a suits, shirts and ties donation booth for job interviews.
Veterans also get help with rent until they can support themselves.
The idea behind the operation is to rapidly rehouse veterans and wrap them in a system of care so they do not end up back on the street.
“Today is about heart and soul,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman. “These efforts today will ensure the veterans don’t have to live on the streets any longer, that they will get the services they need, that they don’t have to be in an emergency situation.”
Hillsborough had about 250 homeless veterans at the start of 2014, around 11 percent of the county’s overall homeless population of about 2,200.
Outreach efforts and last year’s inaugural Operation Reveille helped reduce the number to about 150, said Antoinette Hayes Triplett, CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative.
Among those placed in homes was Tiffany Lara, a 27-year-old Army veteran who became homeless after her husband suffered a stroke in 2014.
Through the 2014 event, Lara was able to move her family into a two-bedroom apartment in Ybor City and get help her with rent for six months.
Now, she works as a leasing agent at an apartment complex and is back on her feet.
She attended Wednesday’s event to thank those who had helped her but also to call for other veterans to get the same assistance.
“We as veterans are helping fight and do all the things that you don’t want to do,” Lara said. “We’re doing this because we want to; because we love our country. Not everybody’s built for this, and if we can help you, the least you can do is please try to help someone else.”
Nationally, homelessness among veterans has fallen by 36 percent since the White House announced its initiative to tackle the problem after surveys showed about 67,000 former servicemen and women were on the streets or living in shelters.
Around 15 cities including Syracuse and Las Vegas have since wiped out homelessness among veterans, according to the White House.
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U.S General Lloyd Austin III, commander of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, noted at the Wednesday event that the U.S. has been at war for 14 years now — the longest period of continuous conflict in the nation’s history.
“A very small number of citizens have shouldered a very heavy responsibility,” Austin said.
In particular, conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have been marked by the signature wounds of PTSD and mild trauma brain injuries — invisible wounds that leave veterans struggling to find employment, effective medical treatment and acceptance, he said.
“All of us have a responsibility to support them, especially those who served in the military and are now dealing with some difficult issues,” Austin said.
Christopher Woods, a 49-year-old U.S. Navy veteran who served two six-month stints of active sea duty in the Persian Gulf, was “buddied” with Brandon resident Steve Hurley, another Navy veteran.
Since leaving the Navy in 1989, Woods has worked a number of jobs including flipping burgers. He has been homeless on and off for the past 12 years and suffers from Crohn’s disease, an inflammation of the bowels.
Finding a home would be a big step, he said, but what he craves more is a steady job so he can support himself.
“I need help, I don’t need a handout,” he said.
Silva, the army veteran, was paired with Becca Marshall, a University of South Florida student whose husband serves in the U.S. Air Force.
A home of his own would help him rebuild his life, he said. He could sleep without worrying he will wake to find his possessions stolen.
He finds comfort in an old military slogan that it takes a warrior to ask for help but admitted he would rather not be in need.
“It’s so hard,” he said, “to ask for something.”
