Rent-free Apartment Helps Family Transitioning Out of Military
When Jullius Thomas was 19, he wanted to build new skills and see new places, and he enlisted in the Navy to expand his horizons.
He served aboard the USS Halsey as a deck seaman and then as a military police officer. During his six-year career, he spent almost two years at sea and deployed to Greece. He earned the rank of petty officer third class.
In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jullius received an honorable discharge as his contract ended. He chose to return to civilian life and pursue a bachelor’s degree in business.
Jullius and his wife, Meana Asuncion, struggled to gain stability. He pursued a dream of becoming an entrepreneur but set that aside after he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that left him unable to work for months.
“Debt accumulated quickly,” said Jullius, who has an 80 percent disability rating.
When the couple learned they were expecting a baby, their worries of being unhoused escalated. In searching for programs to help military families and veterans, they learned about Operation Homefront and its Transitional Housing-Apartments (TH-A) program.
The program offers veterans within four years of discharge a rent- and utilities-free apartment for one year. While living there, participants have access to employment and financial counseling to help them achieve stability and chart a path to long-term post-military success.
The TH-A initiative, the newest of Operation Homefront’s four distinct housing programs, provides a stable living environment for veterans as they adjust to civilian life and gives them leeway to focus on their goals and build a solid foundation for their future. Since 2022, the program has provided more than 190 months of free housing to military families, saving them more than $250,000 in rent and utility costs.
Jullius and Meana learned their application for the program was accepted when baby Jullius Jr. was an infant.
“The timing was just absolutely perfect,” Jullius said. “When we initially applied, we were in a tough spot but nowhere as deep as it had gotten when we moved in. We were down to our last pennies.”
“Not having the stresses of bills seems doable.” – Jullius Thomas, Navy veteran
Jullius said the apartment in San Antonio, Texas, is ideally located between Meana’s family in Corpus Christi, Texas, and his in Kileen, Texas. He is attending community college with plans to further his education in management information systems at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Meana is coaching soccer and working at the preschool little Jullius attends.
The family’s unit within an apartment community exceeded his expectations, Jullius said.
“I thought we were going to be in a barracks room, and I was over the moon about that,” he said. “The apartment is more than we could ever ask for.”
Working with a financial counselor is giving the family tools for paying down debt, and Jullius has embraced the process.
“It felt good to talk about (finances) and talk about it comfortably,” he said. “Not having the stresses of bills seems doable.”
Their long-range goal is to purchase a home to have something to pass down to their son.
“Operation Homefront is making us financially stable,” Jullius said, adding that he extends appreciation and praise to donors who make programs such as TH-A possible.
“What they do is extremely life changing for people,” he said. “Hopefully one day I will be in a position to do the same thing.”
