Staff Reflection on Veterans Day
At Century Housing, supporting Veterans in their journey toward stable housing and renewed independence is central to our mission. This Veterans Day, we are honored to share insights from Richard Pacheco, a Veteran and case manager with Century Oasis Residential Services at The Moonstone, who brings his own experiences to his work, helping fellow Veterans rebuild their lives with dignity and purpose.
Richard (left) with an Afghan Army Corps commander returning to a U.S. 101st Airborne Div. firebase.
I am a Veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and before that, I worked for years overseas where my paramount thought each day was personal safety. After 25 years of service, family and relationships became my priority and I returned to the South Bay.
I started a new phase of life working several years in medical and surgical outpatient offices, a cancer care practice, skilled nursing facilities, and a memory care center. These new experiences showed me the value and reward of putting people at the center of my life.
Several of my patients were Veterans (World War II, Korea, Vietnam) and our shared experiences, our sense of duty, helped me make supporting their healing and dignity my new goal. Concepts like “mission” and “task and purpose” can become your bywords in life and service when you take an oath to the Constitution; I found myself with a new mission I never expected.
I took a position with U.S.VETS at Century Villages at Cabrillo as a housing case manager, where all of my clients were Veterans. Veterans face unique challenges in obtaining and maintaining housing. Yet when an advocate like a case manager shares some of their life, experiences, and trauma, clients can start to trust themselves and believe they can be successful.
While working with Century Oasis Residential Services at the Villages, my Veteran clients—no matter how long or where they served—reported they had survived and thrived in their military lives with the help of their closest friends: their team, their squad.
When my clients see the “housing system” as a new version of the hierarchy and massive bureaucracy of their former branch, I try to be an available, reliable, and accountable part of their new team to seek their healing through housing.
Some of those clients include Brian, a U.S. Army Veteran, who came to the Villages after nearly 25 years of living outdoors, with no income and no savings. I saw him almost every day, helping him apply for Social Security disability insurance (SSDI) benefits. With a steady income and access to medical care, he became a new man—confident, independent, even cheerful at times. Sadly, he passed away about a year after securing housing, but he did so with dignity.
Steven, a Navy Veteran living at the Villages, faced similar challenges. Chronic health issues had worsened his situation; through collaboration with the Long Beach branch of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, he got the intensive care he needed and the SSDI that would sustain him.
Then there’s Josh, a decorated Marine Veteran, who needed daily help for basic activities. I helped him access caregiving services, relocate his belongings, and eventually find higher-level care closer to his children on the East Coast.
Supporting my clients’ healing and recovery through housing has been a privilege and my purpose.
Join Century in honoring our Veterans by supporting our mission to provide compassionate care for those who have served. Learn how you can make a difference with Century Oasis Residential Services.
