vet on dialysis lives in his SUV

[Liberal_in_LA]

Portrait of Billie and David Reiss, who have been living in their vehicle for the past six and a half years. They are staying in a motel in Santa Clara Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. David has cryoglobulinemia vasculitis and is disabled. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)

SANTA CLARA -- David Reiss keeps his Army discharge documents beneath the seat in his 2000 Ford Expedition. It's as safe as anyplace because everything he and wife Billie own is in the SUV.

For much of the last five-and-a-half years, "home" has been a succession of vehicles, worsening his already poor health and leaving him to think that "I was going to die in the car."

Last week David, 56, who is on dialysis, received a godsend: a veterans housing subsidy. But until they are able to find a landlord that will accept their voucher, which has been increasingly difficult in the tight local rental market, David remains part of an especially troubling segment of the local homeless population: those who served their country.

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"This is our lives," said Billie, 41, who has become her husband's full-time caregiver. "I wish things had happened differently, but we can't change that. But maybe reading this will help somebody else's life. I see people in the position we were in, and I want them to know that there is hope, even if it's a long road."

The voucher means they will have to pay only about 30 percent of disability toward rent, and they've begun looking for an apartment. But it's taking an average of three months for voucher recipients to find housing in the hot rental market, the county's Le said.

They hope living in the SUV soon will be in their rear-view mirror.

"Being indoors makes all the difference," David said. "It's amazing how good I feel after some time inside.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_26461884/homeless-veteran-living-an-suv-battles-declining-health

[NYC_SKP]

1. This is so wrong, in so many ways. And to be in such a high rent area as San Jose!!!

We have unlimited funds for new wars and new war toys, and won't take care of our veterans.

Damn.

[JI7]

2. the thing is we could easily provide better for this person and many others

and it would not take anything away from others.

but lawmakers just don't want to pay for certain things. it has nothing to do with lack of money.

[IdaBriggs]

3. I was curious as to why the wife was unable to find work before becoming his "full time care giver"

which seems like an odd choice when he is standing on street corners begging for money.

"But after a surgery, David became addicted to prescription drugs, sending him into a downward spiral that included a jail stint for assault. Billie struggled with alcoholism and served time for forgery.

As they straightened out their lives -- he conquered his addiction to pain-killers and she has been sober for six years -- David's health deteriorated. He long has dealt with cryoglobulinemia vasculitis, a blood disease associated with Hepatitis C that causes extreme pain below his knees and is worsened by cold temperatures."

She has been sober for six years. The housing that would have kept him off the street was only available for him, so it appears they made a choice for him to sacrifice himself so he could take care of her, because ...? I still do not understand before she became a "full time care giver" to a guy standing on a corner begging for money, what the heck was she doing?

Sometimes I do not understand the life choices people make. Sigh.