The head of a Bridgeport nonprofit that helps homeless veterans get back on their feet says "state officials have turned their backs" on the vets he serves.

"We were promised $100,000, in writing, to help us [this year] with things like education and housing, but they came back later and said we wouldn't be getting the money, after all," said Vince Santilli, CEO of Homes for the Brave on Park Avenue. The money was part of federal COVID dollars and somehow got reallocated to another organization, state officials said. "We depend on that kind of funding -- which we previously got four years in a row without any problems -- to help our brave men and woman who risked their lives for their country." Santilli said.

He said state officials have told him there's a chance Homes for the Brave could get the money at an unspecified later date.