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Vivian’s Story

“I’m not what people think of when they think ‘homeless,’” shares Vivan, a veteran living in Oakland’s Embark Apartments. Vivan is 59, sober, and has worked all of her life in the military and in chemical dependency programs. The last few years haven’t been easy. Vivan lost her son in 2001. In 2013 she had a stroke and shortly after, retired. The Bay Area is expensive but it was important for Vivan to be there for her other son and her brother. She spent the last few years moving around a lot, struggling to make rent. Vivan lists all the places she’s lived: “San Francisco, San Leandro, Antioch. Now Oakland.”

Before coming to Embark, Vivan spent several months living in her car, sometimes parking it in a friend’s driveway in East Oakland. “It was like a war zone out there,” she says. But it wasn’t worth coming inside her friend’s house, where people were using substances. Vivan wasn’t willing to risk her sobriety. So she stayed in her car. Like many people experiencing homelessness, Vivan’s journey was complicated and emotionally draining. She was in disbelief that she’d gotten there. Wiping her eyes, Vivan says, “I had to swallow my pride and ask for help … the people at Embark have helped me with everything. I came here with nothing. No bedding, no dishes, toiletries. This apartment is what I would have chosen if I was still working and could choose where I live.”

Vivan lives in a 2-bedroom apartment with her son who helps care for her, and with her Yorkshire terrier, Sassy. She loves living near other veterans. “Once you been in the military you’ll always have that camaraderie,” she says. “There’s a Bond. There’s always that feeling that I know I can knock on their door and I hope they know they can knock on mine.”