How Did Caseworker Help Homeless Veteran Get Housed After 12 Years? 'Just Coming Back'

On a Friday morning like any other, Brian Brewer got the news he had been waiting more than 12 years for: He was finally getting housing.

Over the past seven years, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran could usually be found in front of the CVS drugstore in San Luis Obispo, California, on the corner of Marsh and Broad streets, perched on his milk crate with his faithful black Labrador mix, Admiral, nearby.

That Friday morning, however, Brewer left his stomping ground behind for the last time, trading in his milk crate for his new home in Broad Street Place, a newly opened People's Self-Help Housing affordable apartment complex.

"When we were getting ready to leave CVS with all the junk you haul around and the broken carts, I told my daughter, 'Go take it to a dumpster,'" Brewer told The Tribune. "It was just like a godsend -- we couldn't wait."