WBRZ - Baton Rouge

CHULA VISTA, Calif. - Arthur Lute's journey from his days as a Marine to his nights sleeping on the streets illustrates the challenge for the Obama administration to fulfill its promise to end homelessness among veterans by 2015.

He has post-traumatic stress disorder, and spent years drifting through jobs and prison. For more than a year he slept in the bushes outside the police department in Chula Vista, Calif.

Today, he lives in an apartment in a working-class neighborhood. The federal government pays most of the rent and the cost of medicines. State-funded programs help, too.

But experts say it will take a bigger and sustained commitment by the government to continue the progress. An aggressive two-pronged strategy aims to take veterans off the street and prevent new ones from ending up there.