Washington Soldiers' Home credited with helping veterans move from homelessness to housing

The Washington Soldiers' Home in Orting and its adjacent programs helped formerly homeless veterans regain housing, medical care and family connections, staff and residents said. Dan Smith, an Army veteran and nurse who works at the Orting facility, said the campus operates 24/7 and provides interdisciplinary care for veterans with complex needs.

"I would drive twice as far to work here because this is my dream job," Smith said, adding the team ensures residents' "physical, mental, psychosocial, medical" needs are met. The facility reported a licensed capacity of 97 beds and a census of 91 residents, leaving six open beds for convalescent care.

Residents described concrete outcomes. Marine veteran Frank Chaguena, whose entry into the Port Orchard transitional housing program (RETSO) followed jail and a period of street homelessness, said the program was decisive in his recovery. "They didn't give up on that," Chaguena said of program staff, and later: "It saved my life."

The campus also hosts programs beyond long-term care: a transitional housing program with a stated capacity of 72 and a tiny-homes project with capacity for 37 residents. According to the presentation, more than 150 veterans live on campus across those programs, which offer housing from roughly six months to two years along with case management, substance-abuse recovery services and links to benefit programs.

The Soldiers' Home and its partners framed their work as a combination of clinical care and housing-first support: accepting veterans for convalescent stays after hospital treatments, providing prosthetics and rehabilitation services, and offering pathways to stable work and, in some cases, homeownership. Several residents said they plan to maintain ties with staff and with other veterans as a way of giving back.