April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
TROY RESIDENCE
Veterans in need find home at St. Peter's
"My anxiety was running high," he told The Evangelist.
Then Veterans Affairs caseworkers connected him to the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans program, which placed him in a 60-day program at St. Peter's Residence in Troy. He's now getting help from the VA to find permanent housing and employment and maintain his sobriety.
"I thank God that this is here," Mr. Giancamillo said of St. Peter's.
St. Peter's Residence, the former St. Peter's School building, is managed by the diocesan Catholic Charities Housing Office. It offers 51 long-term rooms for the homeless. Residents pay rent based on their income and receive case management support.
"We are the housing component of their life, but it doesn't stop there," explained Mike Finocchi, site manager. "Ninety-nine percent of them are coming from a shelter. We want to give them stepping stones."
Most residents stay at St. Peter's for two or three years, but "they can stay as long as they want" if they follow the rules, Mr. Finocchi said. "For most of the people here, it's the nicest place they've ever lived."
Last year, the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans program began a partnership with St. Peter's, which set aside four bedrooms specifically for use by veterans in an adjacent former apartment building it had bought and rehabilitated a year ago.
Since then, 38 veterans have called the building home while they find permanent housing, employment, counseling and more through the VA and Catholic Charities. The VA covers rent, a laundry allowance and meals.
St. Peter's and the VA recently renewed their two-year contract for the partnership.
"As long as the VA keeps giving me referrals, I'll find the space," Mr. Finocchi said. "We provide [veterans] a safe, clean, healthy environment. It's hard to get anything [else] without stabilized housing. If somebody's not there to take the time to help them, they fall through the cracks."
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that 62,619 veterans are homeless on any given night. The number of homeless veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan is increasing, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, but nearly half served during the Vietnam era.
Most of the veterans who have lived at St. Peter's have been middle-aged, Mr. Finocchi said. They struggle with substance abuse, mental health issues, traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and physical ailments.
Veteran residents told The Evangelist they often don't know services are available to them or don't follow up on connecting with those services.
"For me [the problem] was asking for help," Mr. Giancamillo said. "I thought I could just do it on my own, because I always did. People told me, 'You've paid into these [VA] programs for so long; it's time to take it back. I didn't know the system; I never really had to use it before."
Mr. Giancamillo, 52, worked for the Federal Aviation Administration for 15 years before he lost his job because of a drinking problem. His jobs after that were short-lived, and he lost the most recent one because he prioritized caring for his sister, who has dementia.
He said he quit drinking four years ago with God's help and is now using his time at St. Peter's to take civil service exams and find work. He'd like to apply to the long-term housing program at the residence because it would be better than the shelters he's used to.
MaryFaith Hartog, who went through the veterans program at St. Peter's and now lives in its permanent housing, had a similar history: After serving as a military police investigator for the U.S. Army for three years in the 1980s, she married, had children and worked as a clerk at SUNY for 25 years. Alcoholism cost her that job in 2008, and she lost the apartment she had with her children in 2010.
Ms. Hartog lived in Salvation Army housing in Syracuse for eight months while participating in a work therapy program. She stayed with family and friends when she returned to the Albany Diocese and finally approached the VA when she needed substance abuse treatment.
They referred her to St. Peter's nine months ago.
Ms. Hartog likes that Mr. Finocchi and others keep tabs on her comings and goings and that "there's always someone around. You're not so isolated. Somebody is watching.
"There is a sense of family," she continued. "It's nice knowing that you're not going home to an empty apartment. [In the temporary program], for at least 60 days, you know that you're safe. It gets you through the first stage of your program."
Ms. Hartog is currently looking for employment, receiving counseling and starting an addiction relapse maintenance program through the VA.
"I can't see it ending," she said of the VA/St. Peter's partnership. "It's too perfect. There's just too many vets now."
Mr. Finocchi wishes he could offer more rooms to veterans in need.
"There's so much potential for these people, and they just need a little shove," he said. St. Peter's "gives back dignity to the individual. They're coming from being next to the guy [in a shelter] whose feet stink, who doesn't shower, doesn't brush his teeth. [I tell residents] to make [their rooms] comfortable, because you no longer have to sleep next to that guy."[[In-content Ad]]
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