Stefan DeArmon had made his share of mistakes.

The latest seemed so trivial, but its consequences were profound: The Charleston native hadn’t lived in his hometown for three decades, but with his parents’ health problems mounting, he began to imagine what would happen if one of them had a medical crisis. DeArmon knew he wasn’t financially prepared for any kind of spur-of-the-moment trip. So he relocated instead.

“I’d rather be here than get here,” the 56-year-old U.S. Coast Guard veteran says, more than a year after coming back to Charleston.

What DeArmon didn’t consider beforehand was where he would stay. His parents had reconfigured their living space to better accommodate DeArmon’s mother’s failing eyesight, and there wasn’t a spare room left for DeArmon. In short, he was homeless.