Veteran James Mumma spent more than a half decade sleeping in an abandoned car in the northern Los Angeles County community of Littlerock.

“To get out of the elements,” said the 59-year-old who relied upon the survival skills he learned in the U.S. Marine Corps to exist and resourcefulness to subsist. He took on odd jobs to earn money for food and gas, and some nights found his dinner in trash bins behind stores and restaurants.

“It was very degrading,” Mumma said. Yet, despite a series of unfortunate experiences that sent him into an emotional and economic spiral, he never gave up on himself.

“I pulled myself up by my bootstraps,” Mumma said.

Because he did, Mumma awoke on Christmas morning in a place that just a few years ago would have seemed unimaginable.

A home. and not just any home. His home—brand-spanking new, built in part upon his own sweat equity—amid other veterans and their families in the California Department of Veterans Affairs’ Residential Enriched Neighborhood (REN) in Palmdale.

Mumma is a veteran who epitomizes the “hand up” rather than “hand out” mantra that is fundamental to the success of the CalVet REN program. It represents another tool available to Governor Gavin Newsom in his commitment to ending veteran homelessness by helping them stabilize and improve their lives. Veterans in the REN program help to build their homes; but, in many cases, are rebuilding themselves as well.

Mumma’s story runs the gamut from the pride of serving his country to humiliation he encountered while doing so. It involves years of trying to shut out horrific memories that resurfaced when he became homeless. It is a comeback story in progress: he now works for an agency serving other veterans in Southern California.

He joined the Marine Corps in 1985, beginning a 13-year military career that took him to places all around the world: Okinawa, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, and Hong Kong, among them. However, he said that during an equator-crossing ritual in 1987, he became the victim of military sexual assault that he never reported, as so many victims do not. It sent him into a dark place mentally, and has affected him ever since.

“From that point on, I’ve had issues, problems,” Mumma said. “I was married three times and divorced three times. I’ve had nightmares. I seem to have difficulty navigating public venues and events. In fact, it was difficult to do the key ceremony (the REN presentation event in Palmdale on December 2).”

He remained in the Marine Corps by focusing on two things: becoming an expert marksman and suppressing everything else.

“I didn’t tell anyone,” he said. “I buried it so deep in my mind that I forgot about it.’

After separating from the military in 1998, he became an area leader for a pizza chain in Connecticut for several years until moving back to his native Palmdale in 2015. He began a delivery service that went south when his truck was stolen and destroyed. He lost most of his personal belongs that were in the vehicle at time.

“I went down a rabbit hole,” Mumma said. “I couldn’t pay the rent and lost my house. I became homeless, and that’s when lots of things came back into my mind. I was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder as well as military sexual trauma and it all just spiraled downward.”

In 2020, he met another veteran who explained the process of applying for his earned veteran benefits and, in essence, put him back on an upward trajectory. He visited the Sepulveda VA Medical Center. When Mumma told his case manager he was homeless, the manager called a social worker who offered a HUD-VASH program voucher that would help him get into an apartment. He also qualified for nearly $575 in other monthly benefits.

Even so, 11 more months passed before they found a place where he could live. He moved into a studio apartment in Lancaster in May 2021.

“I still slept on the floor of my apartment,” Mumma said. “It took me awhile to get used to a bed again.”

A year later, he went to work for Los Angeles County’s Veteran Peer Outreach Network as an outreach coordinator helping homeless veterans.

“I’ve found homes for more than 50 veterans,” Mumma said. “Six months ago, I was promoted to supervisor of outreach. Now, I put on events to go out and find homeless veterans.”

Along the way, he learned about the CalVet REN program and CalVet’s partner agency, Homes4Families. Homes4Families works with local jurisdictions to create the REN developments. CalVet’s Home Loans Division is among the agencies that finance the homes.

During an online event in 2022, Mumma met Brad Pedersen, CalVet Home Loans Division’s program representative who conducted the event.

“I introduced myself to Brad and told him I was interested in one of those homes,” Mumma said.  “He said, ‘Why isn’t your paperwork on my desk?’”

Pedersen helped get Mumma started on the process, and in May 2022, Homes4Families informed Mumma he would, indeed, become a homeowner. When escrow opened in May, Pedersen called to congratulate him.

REN developments are built in phases—completing one group of homes and then moving on to the next. Mumma was so excited that he put in his required 400 hours of sweat equity on Palmdale’s Phase II in just three months, and then worked 150 hours more on his own home in Phase III.

“I’ve thrown a lot of nails,” he said.

He ran into Pedersen at an event in Los Angeles several weeks ago.

“He (Mumma) walked up to me and said, ‘There’s the guy who got me my home!’” Pedersen said. “But they’ve earned their homes. I’m just there to steer them to what they need to do. I’m the cheerleader.”

Mumma moved into his new home on December 21, 2023. His grown son and daughter joined him for the holiday.

“It meant that I (could) have my kids home for Christmas,” he said.

And not just any home. His home.

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For more information on obtaining a CalVet Home Loan, visit www.calvet.ca.gov/calvet-programs/home-loans or call us directly during regular business hours at (866) 653-2510. We are happy to help.

For more information on the CalVetREN program, visit homes4families.org/.