A U.S. Army veteran who spent nearly six years homeless on the streets of Victorville has become the 300th person to graduate from the city's Wellness Center into permanent housing. Justin D., who served 12 years in the Army, was placed into a permanent home just one week after arriving at the facility, with caseworkers and the Department of Veterans Affairs working together to clear the paperwork hurdles that had kept him on the street.
According to VVNG, Justin D. suffered a broken neck, spine and hip after a major crash, per the City of Victorville, and later developed lifelong medical issues after his spleen and pancreas were removed. He fell behind on bills, lost his home and most of his possessions, and ended up living on the street. He was eventually referred to the Wellness Center by the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he worked with a caseworker from facility operator Symba Center to obtain the vital documents he needed to qualify for permanent housing through VA programs.
The Victorville Wellness Center, a city-run facility that opened in December 2023, provides interim housing, wraparound support services, health care and recuperative care, the same VVNG report notes. Spanning nearly 26,000 square feet on First Street, the campus houses 170 total beds across 110 non-congregate units — including 21 family beds — with 53 of those 170 beds set aside for medical recuperative care, according to Livability.
A Campus Built to Do More Than Shelter
Onsite amenities include an industrial kitchen, cafeteria, dog kennel, medical and dental clinic, recreational sports courts, community event spaces and a community garden, Livability reports. The campus was funded through a $28 million Homekey grant awarded to the city by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and operations are co-managed by nonprofits Symba Center, which handles medical care and housing navigation, and Hope the Mission, which oversees facility operations, with referrals flowing in from Victorville's Homeless Engagement Team and local hospital discharges.
The Wellness Center now graduates over 100 individuals a year into permanent housing, per the same VVNG account. That sustained pace has required continued public investment: in April 2025, the Victorville City Council voted to accept $489,820 in Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program grant funding from San Bernardino County to keep operations running and ease reliance on the city's General Fund, according to VVNG.
Numbers Show a Falling Homeless Count
Victorville Mayor Liz Becerra said the Wellness Center's work demonstrates the city's broader strategy to reduce homelessness, and she expressed gratitude to staff helping homeless individuals gain stability, the VVNG report states. Homelessness in Victorville has fallen to its lowest point in six years since the Wellness Center opened, according to the city, with unsheltered homelessness down 68 percent and overall homelessness down 28 percent over the past two years, per the San Bernardino County Point-in-Time Count as cited by the city.
The city's own tally, per the City of Victorville, recorded 104 unsheltered unhoused individuals in 2026's Point-in-Time Count, down from 141 in 2025 and 326 in 2024, while total homelessness fell to 441 from 611 in 2024 — enough to move Victorville from second to third among San Bernardino County cities with the highest unhoused populations. Countywide, the January 2026 Point-in-Time Count identified 3,718 total homeless individuals, 2,448 of them unsheltered, a 3.1 percent overall reduction and a 7.1 percent drop in unsheltered homelessness compared to 2025, according to San Bernardino County.
Much of that street-level work has been backed by state dollars. California awarded Victorville $6.3 million from its Encampment Resolution Fund in October 2024, as the city pursued outreach and efforts to address encampment impacts; the city's homelessness response also includes Wellness Center operations, interim housing and rapid rehousing, and it has secured more than $40 million in state homelessness grants since 2021, Gov1 reported.
One Veteran's Path Forward
Justin D. said staying positive and putting in the work can improve circumstances for people experiencing homelessness, according to VVNG's report. He said he's looking forward to no longer worrying about heat, location, or where he'll sleep at night — a shift from six years spent without a stable place to call home.
For Justin D., the Department of Veterans Affairs and a caseworker helped with the documents needed to qualify for permanent housing, leading to placement after just a week at the Victorville facility.
Challenges remain even as the numbers improve. In April 2025, the city accepted county incentive funding to support Wellness Center operations and ease reliance on the city's General Fund.
