FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Paul Wagner met with his case manager at the Housing Hub homeless shelter in St. Lucie County on Tuesday.
"I lived here for 36 years in St. Lucie County, and I never thought I would be homeless," he said.
Wagner is a veteran of the Marine Corps. He said he's one of many who fell into homelessness while trying to cope with mental health struggles.
"I was numbing myself by drinking alcohol and alcohol got me to where I am today," he explained.
To help veterans like Wagner, St. Lucie County plans to convert the old Relax Inn Motel building on U.S. 1 into a veterans homeless shelter. They just acquired the property for $1.15 million. The county received $875,000 in state funding for the project. The next step is to renovate it and find a nonprofit to run day-to-day operations.
"Mental health services, health care services, transportation, job training, and that'll all be part of this facility once it’s up and running," Erick Gill, the communications director for St. Lucie County, said.
Rayme Nuckles of the Treasure Coast Homeless Services Council said the shelter will fill a major gap.
"We receive anywhere between 10 to 15 calls per week with regard to individuals who are veterans who are maybe living already housed but they are having trouble because they are living in poverty," he said.
Wagner added that he personally knows a lot of homeless veterans still out there feeling stuck.
"They're only homeless because it's things that they were involved with conflicts, wars, whatever," he said. "You're not the same when you come back from these things and some guys never recover from that and they turn to the alternative."
Wagner feels the new shelter is needed now more than ever as Florida's new outdoor camping ban is set to take effect this fall.
"Gives you hope. Gives you a second chance really," he said.
