Eureka Nonprofit gives back to Veterans

Nations Finest is a nonprofit that helps Veterans who are facing homelessness or housing issues. There are currently 10,500 Homeless veterans in California. 

“You know, veterans that come here, they’re experiencing homelessness for a variety of reasons, whether it’s military related or not. But, you know, the veterans experience homelessness in a different way than, I guess, other people do. A lot of, you know, PTSD, other mental illnesses, trauma, it could be a traumatic brain injury, or it could be military”, says Saul Lopez, Lead Site Director for Nations Finest Eureka. 

Nations Finest prioritizes those who served our country and helps them get on their feet. But it’s more than just helping the unhoused. 

“For somebody that’s homeless, we try to get them in on the same day. So a veteran would come into our building, we would, you know, go over transitional housing programs with them. and we try to, you know, get them in the shelter the same day. And for someone that’s like, behind in the rent, so, like in the homeless prevention, we tried using their services too, we contact their landlord, and we offer financial assistance”, he says. 

They also offer other services. 

“You know, besides transitional housing we have SSVF, a support service for veterans and families so that we’re not only dealing with the veteran but with the veterans family as well. And they mostly do homeless prevention and rapid rehousing. So when a veteran finds housing, we go and fund that deposit and rent and buy them general housing goods. We also have case management and our GPD, grant per diem aftercare, which provides ongoing case management to help build sustainability with the veterans and keep veterans housed and families housed”, he said. 

All the veterans live on site until they can find more stable housing. 

“You know, to build housing stability, whether they come from literally homeless or homeless prevention, managing their budget, managing their finances helps them to be, you know, be stable so they can support themselves”, Lopez says. 

Story by Tucker Caraway