‘It’s a big difference from living in a car’: Tampa veterans get help after discovering they had resources to escape homelessness
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — After Allam Bromley decided his Tampa home was too dilapidated to live in, and his only option was sitting in his driveway.
“We just moved into the car,” he said, reffering to him and his roommate.
As worn out as the home looks on the outside, Bromley said it was even worse on the inside.
Florida ‘QAnon’ power couple going to prison for Jan. 6 Capitol assault
“It is terrible, he said. “It got worse after someone broke in and really ruined the place.”
A peak through the front window revealed the home is stuffed with debris, seemingly wall to wall. Bromley said he lived in the vehicle for about six months.
“It is something we more or a less had to do,” Bromley said. “We had the heater on in the car some times but it wasn’t very comfortable.”
When he was younger, serving Vietnam was what he felt he had to do.
“That’s why I joined the service, to protect the United States and serve,” Bromley said.
He said he served stints in both the Air Force and Army.
“I was willing to die.” Bromley said. “You could’ve been attacked any time. They could plant a bomb or something like that. You never know.”
Crack, contraband smuggled in broad daylight from street into Sarasota County Jail
Earlier this year, James A. Haley Tampa VA personnel noticed Bromley had the money to move into shelter that did not have a steering wheel.
The dominoes then fell in his favor after the nonprofit A Place for Mom put him in touch with Tampa Gardens.
Bromley had the funds, and this assisted living facility had a spot for him.
“I was happy. It’s a big difference from living in a car,” Bromley said. “I’m 89 years old.”
Bromley is one of three veterans who were recently placed at Tampa Gardens, according to Executive Director Susan Ayala.
They had the money to live in a facility that could care for them, but needed help to figure how to find one.
Punctured narcotics vials prompted changes in Hillsborough Fire Rescue drug security
“It could be depression. It could be mental problems. It could be cognitive,” Ayala said. “It could be an array of things that contribute to it.”
Ayala said this was not the first time she has worked with individuals who were homeless even though they had the means to get off the street.
“Some of them have assets that they’ve accumulated through their service or their life and they just hit a rough spot,” Ayala said.
That rough spot sleeping in the front seat of a car came to end for Bromley in time to have a liveable home for the holidays.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.