( CNN ) No identification , no Social Security card and only a box to live on . John Helinski was homeless and nameless for three years . Suddenly , he 's set to buy his own place and collect a nice pension . Helinski hit it big thanks to the Social Security Administration , and a big-hearted cop and a case worker determined to untangle major bureaucracy . Charles Inman could not bear to see his 62-year-old ward land back on the street , he told CNN affiliate WFTS . The shelter where the case worker works set Helinski up with a bunk and a locker . But getting him into the system was hard , because Helinski 's ID and Social Security cards had been stolen . `` He needed to have an identification , but we could n't get an identification without a birth certificate , '' Inman said . A hassle all by itself , except that Helinski was foreign born -- in Poland , as an American citizen . `` We first had to figure out that we needed a consular record of foreign birth or something like that , '' said Tampa police Officer Dan McDonald , who pitched in to help Helinski . With those papers squared away , he and Inman got Helinski a driver 's license and a Social Security card . Then , Helinski remembered that he used to have an account with a certain Landmark Bank . `` Then it became Bank of America , '' he said . The account was still there , and the Social Security Administration had n't forgotten about him . It had kept paying Helinski benefits for years , and they had stacked up high . Now Helinski is thinking of buying his own four walls . And he 'll have monthly benefits to live on . `` I guess I 'm exhilarated , excited , you know , '' he said . McDonald said he and Inman were stunned . `` We were n't quite sure what to say . ''
HelinskiJohn Helinski 's 's ID and Social Security cards had been stolen . His case worker and a cop had to get foreign ID papers to get him a driver 's license . Then John Helinski 's remembered a bank account he used to have .