From Loss to Leadership: Ed’s Inspiring Impact

“I never thought that homelessness would happen to me - at all. I had a Lexus, had the house, had a wife, the kids, two cats in the yard, and all that. But it happened.”

Ed Howard once turned to HomeFirst for help, but now, as HomeFirst’s Lead Veteran Outreach Specialist, he helps others. In his position, Ed immerses himself in the Santa Clara community, in an effort to identify homeless veterans that could benefit from HomeFirst’s housing services.

Ed’s immense passion for his work comes from his own lived experience as both a person who experienced homelessness and a veteran. After being raised in the Philippines by a military family, Ed moved to the United States at the age of 17 to serve in the navy. In 1992, after years of service, he left this line of work and entered the tech world, where he worked in tech support at a number of companies in Silicon Valley. Ed’s life was good - he had a stable job, a house that he owned, and a unified family, but things took a turn when the dot-com bubble burst. Ed lost his job, his house, and his marriage. He struggled to find new work, and ended up living on the streets.

Ed Howard, Veteran Outreach Specialist

Ed’s new reality and the bitter cold led him to seek housing services at HomeFirst. He spent time in our shelters, and simultaneously, volunteered in our kitchen and janitorial departments via our New Start Program. Ultimately, Ed’s commitment to this work and desire for permanent employment led HomeFirst to hire him as both a Resident Coordinator and Veteran Outreach Specialist. This steady employment gave Ed the financial stability that he needed to get back on his feet, and he was able to move out of the shelter and into a place of his own.

Now, Ed gives back to veterans facing similar challenges to those that he experienced. As part of his outreach efforts, for example, Ed helped plan the Veteran Stand Down, a one-stop-shop resource fair for veterans that was hosted by Santa Clara County’s Veterans Services Office. Ed and the Veteran Outreach Team represented HomeFirst at the event, where 817 veterans received a variety of services from many agencies including permanent housing and veteran services from HomeFirst. Due to the event’s success, Ed is now involved in planning next year’s event which will be even larger.

While Ed’s story is impressive, we can happily state that Ed is one of HomeFirst’s many successes. This is because HomeFirst provides a continuum of care to adults, veterans, and families, by meeting people where they are, and by developing housing plans specific to each person. For more information about HomeFirst’s services, please visit our website (homefirstscc.org) or call the Here4You Hotline at 408-385-2400.

Last Updated 2023