When Tommy Miles and son Austin arrived in Coeur d’Alene in January 2019, here’s what they didn’t have: Jobs, money, car, home, family, friends.

Oh, it was in the middle of a brutal winter, too. You could say it was a rude welcome.

“The first day we got up there, it started snowing,” Austin recalled, laughing.

“It was different, “ Tommy said.

Definitely different from California, where they had been living in warmth and sunshine.

Tommy was a plumber, working long hours and doing well.

“We were really happy over there,” Austin said.

But about three years ago, his company moved. He lost his job. He had to move out of his rental home.

For a time, he and Austin stayed in motels but when the money ran out, they began living out of Tommy’s work van. Then, the van broke down.

“It all hit at one time,” Tommy said.

So they hit the road.

They didn’t have a particular place in mind. Just somewhere different, somewhere they could start new. They hitchhiked to Arizona when a woman stopped and offered them a ride to a town in North Idaho called Coeur d’Alene. It was a nice place to live, she told them.

They took it.

The good Samaritan also shared something else that would change their lives.

“She told us about St. Vincent’s,” Tommy Miles said.

That first night, they stayed in a warming center. The next, they got into the men’s shelter. Eventually, Tommy became the house captain.

After three months, they moved into a two-bedroom unit operated by St. Vincent de Paul and today, Tommy works for the nonprofit.

“Without them, I don’t know where I’d be,” Tommy said. “It was not looking good a few years ago. Now, here we are.”

Stories like that are a blessing to St. Vincent de Paul Executive Director Larry Riley.

Kootenai County has about 400 homeless. The annual Point in Time homeless count was conducted in late January, but official results won’t be available until later this spring. When warmer weather arrives, so will more people without a place to live.

“It ebbs and flows with the seasons,” Riley said.

Some will camp in the woods, trying to stay out of sight. Others will live in cars. Some will crash on couches.

“Those are the people that are really in dire straights and have nowhere to go,” Riley said. “The cars in the winter become refrigerators. You cannot keep warm.”

Which is when St. Vincent’s steps in.

It operates emergency shelters for women and children, and a separate one for men, each with 12 beds.

It serves up to 100 meals Monday through Friday at “Father Bill’s” kitchen.

Its Post Falls warming center helps thousands.

It owns and manages real estate spanning 17 apartment complexes with more than 300 units for low income — senior housing, single-family, and tenants with mental health challenges.

But keeping up with demand continues to be challenging.

Riley said as the county’s population grows, so will the number of homeless.

“It’s a fact of life,” he said.

For now, their numbers are holding steady.

But that can change — and likely will this summer when the days are longer and the nights are warmer.

“A lot of people are just one domestic violence incident away from being homeless or a health care issue from being homeless,” he said.

The biggest obstacle to many, Riley said, is lack of affordable housing. As housing prices have climbed, so have rents. Idaho’s minimum wage remains $7.25, while according to Zillow, the median rent in Kootenai County is $1,595. And according to rentdata, “Fair Market Rent prices in Coeur d’Alene are high compared to the national average.”

Homelessness reaches a lot of people. It’s people with jobs and kids in school who can have no place to live.

“We have the real working poor here that in other cities might be able to find housing,” Riley said.

Most try to fly under the radar.

“Our homeless group tends to be more covert,” Riley said. “They’re not living out on the streets like you would in warmer weather climate.”

Last year, St. Vincent’s sold two of its transitional and veterans housing complexes on Sherman Avenue to the city. The buildings had been vacant as the nonprofit had previously lost federal funding for them.

But Riley said those weren’t an ideal place for such housing projects, and struck a deal with the city, which has development plans for them.

“That should be a gateway to our city,” he said.

St. Vincent’s HELP Center on Harrison Avenue oversees a dozen social service programs and is visited by about 150 people a day — about 39,000 a year.

While it offers coffee and a bite to eat, it’s not a place to hang out. The goal is to get help and guidance with employment, housing, food and clothing — to get folks on a path leading to independence.

“Many clients by choice don’t take full advances of all the resources we offer,” Riley said.

Tommy Miles and son Austin did.

They say St. Vincent’s gave them that fresh start they were seeking when they left California. It provided resources and contacts. It provided employment and housing.

Both like the North Idaho lifestyle of fishing and hiking.

“To think of where we were when we were homeless in California, compared to here, I never would have thought we would have made such progress,” Austin said. “At one point we were sleeping on the side of the freeway. And now, we both have our own bedroom. It’s incredible how helpful this environment has been.”

During their homeless stint, Tommy said his son kept him positive.

“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been …,” he said, his voice tailing off

“We have fun,” Austin said. “We get along. I love my dad, I love his company.”

Austin, who enjoys acting and will be in a production coming up this spring, has hopes for an entertainment career.

Tommy feels good about the path he’s on, too.

“I’m happy where I’m at right now, working with St. Vincent’s,” he said.