Mallyveen Teah, 53, has been homeless or couch surfing on and off for the past 25 years. Now, he walks from his job at a construction site in Arlington, Va., to his new home, a one-bedroom apartment.
"Something as simple as giving a person a set of keys to their own place makes a huge difference in terms of their outlook on life, the world," he says.
Teah is part of a campaign launched by a nonprofit group in New York four years ago to permanently house 100,000 homeless people. This week, the group, Community Solutions, announced it had reached its goal, using a novel approach of bringing together federal, state, local, private and nonprofit groups to mount aggressive anti-homeless efforts in dozens of communities across the country.
"It feels like I'm a normal person again," Teah says. "I haven't felt this way for quite some time."
Teah says he used to spend his nights drinking, sometimes using drugs, and wondering where he was going to sleep. Now, he worries about things like what he'll make for dinner.
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