‘Never Too Late': Veteran Becomes First-Time Homeowner After Decades Living on Streets

A veteran who spent decades living on the streets now has a place to call home.

U.S. Army veteran Alfred Jiggetts, 68, served two years in Vietnam and came home from war with a heroin addition and, like many soldiers, suffers from PTSD.

"That's when my life truly changed for the worst," Jiggetts said.

Jiggetts spent the next 30 years in and out of jail and slept on the streets or in homeless shelters. He said his time in the shelters was far worse than his experience fighting in the Vietnam War.

"You knew they were shooting at you down in Vietnam, but you don’t know who your enemy is there in that shelter," Jiggetts said.

However, eight years ago, it was the Community for Creative Non-Violence shelter in northwest D.C. that helped Jiggetts get help. He joined a substance abuse program at the shelter and eventually received a housing voucher.

Jiggetts said that voucher was the key for him to finally get his life together and stay sober.

In May, Jiggetts qualified for a loan from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and bought his first house in Capitol Heights, Maryland. He also got married.

"Some days I just sit here, I go downstairs and cry at how good God had done for me - where he brought me from," Jiggetts said. "It really make me feel good...it’s never too late to start to do anything."

Nearly 50,000 veterans are homeless at any one time, according to Jay Melder, a spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Human Services.

"It’s a real proof point that ending veteran homelessness is possible and really, ending homelessness altogether is possible too," Melder said.

Jiggetts said he wants to focus now on helping other veterans get the help he received.