A Way Home — Housing Solutions: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave's series on solutions to homelessness and ways to increase affordable housing. It is made possible by a coalition of funders including the City of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, the ENNA Foundation, and Kalamazoo County Land Bank.

They turned their lives over to the United States military, trained to go to war, and either fought in battle or stood ready. 

Then, as civilians, they became homeless.

Jacklyn Carroll has a home now, an apartment that she shares with her husband, Anthony, near WMU's campus. (Anthony, recovering from recent lung surgery, was unavailable for this story.)

Both before and after she served her country, Carroll was homeless. Through the help of many sources, from Kalamazoo Housing Advocates to the national organization Volunteers of America, she's finally found help and a place to live.

There are many sources of help, from the federal government to local non-profits. We also spoke with Integrated Services of Kalamazoo, who have a veteran services department. ISK also runs Keystone, a transitional home for unhoused vets.  

Fran Dwight"I'm 36 years old, and I'm an Army Veteran, and I'm a survivor of life," Jacklyn Carroll says. Help is there, but veterans often find themselves frustrated by bureaucracy or simply don't know who to turn to when overwhelmed by civilian life. 

Smoked by life

"I'm 36 years old, and I'm an Army Veteran, and I'm a survivor of life," Carroll says. 

She's been smoked by life, but, "I smoked life back!"

To explain for the civilians reading, "smoked" is a term used in boot camp. 

Carroll was shipped off to boot camp in St. Louis, where she was put in the care of Drill Sergeant Disney. Of course, one out of the 50 new recruits in the platoon had to call him "Walt."

"It was not a good idea," she says. "We were 'smoked' is what they call it. It's like rigorous activity in a form of punishment." 

The entire platoon had to do pushups until puddles of sweat pooled below them.

"I stand up and I'm like, 'I quit. I'm not doing this anymore. This is crazy!'"

Sgt. Disney said, "Oh, that's really cute. Carroll thinks that she can quit." 

He then pushed her harder, and kept pushing up to when she graduated. At the end, he shook her hand, said, "I'm really proud of you. I definitely didn't think you could do it. Look how far you've come." She says she sensed actual compassion from Disney, who'd noticed she had no family to witness her graduation.

You can't quit boot camp, and you can't quit life, Carroll has learned. Though there have been times when she "honestly wanted to die," she says with tears welling up. There was a time when she was using drugs, "hoping to just waste away, and fade away."

She was born in a small town in Wisconsin. Her mother gave her up to foster care. Carroll ended up homeless as a teen, was a victim of sex abuse, and human trafficking. 

Carroll joined the Army as a way out. But after her honorable discharge, she found herself homeless again. She followed her birth mother to Plainwell, but their connection was tenuous.

Carroll ended up in Kalamazoo. Mostly she'd been living "couch-to-couch," but has occasionally slept out on the streets. During a blizzard in 2019, she broke into a shed to wrap herself in a stranger's tarp. 

She doesn't blame the army entirely for her struggles as a civilian. Her life before was unstable, Carroll points out. "When you're a foster kid, nobody teaches you life skills," she says.

However, the military certainly didn't teach her life skills. In the military, "they're going to take good care of you," she says. But "it does not in any way prepare you for civilian life."

In boot camp, "they break that human being out of you, and they rebuild a soldier." 

When the soldier becomes a civilian again, there's no transition period. Maybe there should be a "civilian school..... ‘Here, go back and learn how to be a human again. Here's five days of how to make spaghetti and tacos. And here's what we did to you so you can figure out how to undo it,'" Carroll says.
Fran Dwight"I think last year was the first time that I looked at my husband and I said, 'I'm so glad I'm not dead.' I was like, I stuck it out! I don't know why I'm still here. But I stuck it out,” says Jacklyn Carroll.
Help for Kalamazoo Veterans

Juan Gonzalez, veteran navigator for Integrated Services of Kalamazoo, says that the latest records from the Point in Time Count, a survey of the county's homeless, found "roughly about 68 homeless veterans in the county." Fourteen of those were female.

Courtesy Juan GonzalezJuan Gonzalez, veteran navigator for Integrated Services of KalamazooFrom his own observations, Gonzalez says, "I am sure that has increased." Those counted were people who identified themselves as veterans, but some "don't want to claim that they served or are a veteran."

Many of the issues that plague unhoused people also affect unhoused vets -- and the stresses of serving in the military can add to those issues.

Issues like mental health, Gonzalez says. "Dealing with the traumatic incidents that happen while serving in the military, but also daily life that those veterans and service members go through, affects their ability to have permanent housing." Often, going along with the trauma is  "substance use, alcohol, and drug use. "

It can be difficult learning to be a civilian once out. Veterans have spent a large portion of their lives with Uncle Sam taking care of all the basics.

Gonzalez is a veteran himself, and he knows well that "one of the things that the military does not teach you is basic finance, budget, and financial literacy. So that's an issue that individuals have, the basic needs of life, housing, shelter, food, clothing, and such. That's an issue that I see with individuals, veterans, and service members who are homeless," he says.

"You're trained to fight wars, but they don't teach you the basic skills of just getting through life."

To help start building those skills and get vets on the path to permanent housing, ISK opened Keystone.

'I had a life. I had a life, man.'

The Keystone Veteran Transitional House opened in 2020 on Stockbridge in the Edison neighborhood. Tyrone Thrash, Keystone housing coordinator, says their 12-bed facility has served around 80 veterans in the past five years, "and we've actually helped house over half of them."

Thrash sees vets coming into Keystone "who need layered help. They may have had a past eviction, they may be dealing with substance use issues as well as mental health." 

Mark WedelDane Neal in the courtyard of Keystone, transitional housing for unhoused vets. Neal was in the Army, stationed near the DMZ in Korea. After numerous medical issues he couldn't afford a place to stay. "Now I'm homeless.... I had a life, man."These are issues that need to be addressed before finding permanent housing, he thinks, "otherwise you're going to have recidivism."

Vets at Keystone get support and help with their issues, Thrash says, to reach a state where they are able to find and keep a home. He points to 2023 where out of 23 veterans who came to Keystone, they were able to get 14 "into permanent situations."

ISK provides addiction recovery and mental health support for vets and other unhoused people. "It's just a challenge," Thrash says. "Once an individual does get housed, they need to follow through with appointments, follow through with ongoing care, and follow through with ongoing support."
 
At the end of May, "we have six guys and one lady, because we do have one room available for female vets," Thrash says.

At the moment, Keystone is only available for single individuals. There is a need for a place for veteran parents with children, Thrash says. "You get veteran mothers who come in and, only being a single adult shelter, it's hard for them to navigate that aspect of things."

Keystone works to connect people to veterans' services in Kalamazoo, and also in Calhoun County, the location of the nearest Veterans Affairs office.

Mark WedelTyrone Thrash, housing coordinator for Keystone, at the facility's therapy garden. "It's just a challenge" helping vets find homes, but he estimates that over half of their residents have found permanent housing.We talked with Thrash outside of Keystone, in the backyard as he and vets helped clean up from a BBQ celebrating another year of their therapy garden. Raised beds of flowers and vegetables each flew flags representing all branches of the military.

Dane Neal rolled his wheelchair into Keystone's courtyard. He's from Kalamazoo, but spent the past two years at Majestic Care in Battle Creek for physical therapy. When he got out the week before, he was homeless. He had a place, "but I couldn't afford it no more."

He's had four toes removed, and many other surgeries, due to diabetes. "Now I'm homeless."

Neal is 66. "I was married, I had a truck, motorcycle, family. I had everything. And then I just lost it all," he says. "I had a life. I had a life, man." 

He was in the Army, served in South Korea, "five miles from the DMZ." He wasn't in combat, but "some of these boys here, they fought."

Neal says with a tone that suggests he's not as deserving of help as others, "I didn't fight, so..."

But he did put his life in the military's hands, and says "it's exactly right" when told that transitioning from the Army to civilian life is tough.

He's lost his ID and is hoping for some help getting that back. His daughter had put his possessions in storage, “but she lost storage, and I lost everything.”

Neal hasn't lost quite everything. He's a musician, and two guitars are among his remaining possessions. But with his health issues, "I can't even use them right now!" he says with a laugh. 

He hasn't lost his humor. And Neal has hope -- he's met guys at Keystone who're about to move into their own apartments. "So they do find you a place. And then get you help through the VA, maybe a portion of your rent."

Navigating the bureaucracy 

Another source of help for unhoused and housing-insecure vets in Kalamazoo is Kalamazoo Housing Advocates. 

The KHA program director, who specializes in helping vets, Marla LeMae, worked for the Veterans Administration for six years. She sees people in need who're daunted by the federal government, and helps guide them through the bureaucracy.

She says help exists in the Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH). It pairs HUD's voucher rental assistance with VA case management and supportive services. According to the VA, "These services are designed to help homeless Veterans and their families obtain permanent housing and access the health care, mental health treatment, and other supports necessary to help them improve their quality of life and maintain housing over time."

Courtesy Marla LeMaeMarla LeMae, Kalamazoo Housing Advocates program director specializing in helping vetsThe Trump administration has been erratic with statements threatening to cut HUD's voucher program, but in LeMae’s experience, "The VA is insulated in a way," from federal budget turmoil. It's never politically popular to cut assistance to veterans.

If someone shows up at KHA needing help, it's a "no-brainer" if they are receiving VA benefits, LeMae says. "VA has way more resources and can get them housed a lot faster, and has a lot more support than we can provide."

KHA hands off these vets to the Kalamazoo County Veterans Service Office.

But some vets aren't receiving benefits, for whatever reasons. LeMae tells the story of her father who was a Marine, drafted during Vietnam. She had to pressure and guide him into applying for a pension for vets who served in wartime. "He didn't think he was eligible. He didn't want to deal with the hassle."

Is it worry about navigating the bureaucracy, ignorance of the benefits, or simple pride that might keep a veteran from looking for help?

"Vets know that they have access to benefits. The issue, as I see it, is the complicated bureaucracy of applying. It isn’t easy to do on your own. There are (veteran service organizations) that will help, but those aren’t as widely known. And the eligibility is unclear to many. You need to have served during a certain time period for certain pensions. VA medical services are free for some, cost a copay for others." 

Outside of the VA, LeMae sends vets to Volunteers of America, a national faith-based non-profit founded in 1896. The Michigan branch has an office in the Goodwill building, 420 E. Alcott. Their veterans' services include help with transitional housing, direct aid for housing costs for the housing-insecure, and employment training.

A veteran's home

Carroll had served her country, but then went right back to living couch-to-couch. "Out of the Army, back on the street," she says.

She did eventually try to make a life for herself. She married, but her husband, Anthony, was also housing-insecure. The new couple had to live in his mother's home. "My husband and I were actually living with his mom and his mom's roommate. We were actually all sleeping in his mom's bedroom. " 

Fran DwightJacklyn Carroll wants other veterans to know "there is always a way out, and you just have to find the right people to get you the right connection."Anthony worked maintenance for Lukeman Property Group, which managed but did not own the property. They looked into renting one of their units and saw that they needed at least $2,700 to start.

Lukeman suggested they contact KHA. Carroll went to KHA and worked with LeMae, who connected her with Volunteers of America's Kalamazoo branch. 

Carroll thought she wouldn't qualify for help because "I never served active duty."

Fran DwightVolunteers of America's Kalamazoo branch helped Jacklyn Carroll and her husband find a home. She quickly got a local VOA caseworker, who insisted, "Yes, we're going to help you."

With rental assistance, the couple moved into their first home together in September last year and at last found some stability.

But that might be disrupted because their building's owner sent notice in March that leases will not be renewed. "They're emptying the building because they want to gut it and sell it to rich college kids. So we have to find another place to live in September," she says.

However, Carroll sounds more confident than worried that things will turn out all right. 

The VOA "helped us so much with getting into this place, and we gained this insane stability. My husband and I have been sober for almost two years off of drugs. So we were ready to be in a stable environment. We just needed help to get into it."

A month after moving in, Carroll got a full-time job as a driver in medical transportation -- after many short-lived fast-food jobs, it was "something that mattered," she says. "I've been working ever since." 

Carroll looks around their home. "I am so blessed to still be here," she says, tears welling up. "I think last year was the first time that I looked at my husband and I said, 'I'm so glad I'm not dead.' I was like, I stuck it out! I don't know why I'm still here. But I stuck it out."

She wants other veterans to know "there is always a way out, and you just have to find the right people to get you the right connection." Carroll recommends VOA for vets in need. "Without Volunteers of America, I would not have a home today."

The military might not have prepared her for life, but boot camp did give her the will to keep going when things are tough. Carroll thinks of what her drill sergeant told his recruits many times, "The body goes where the mind tells it to."

She had decided she needed sobriety, a home, and a job. 

She'll have to move again, but she's been saving money. "I'm ready for it. I'm excited."
Fran Dwight