Berkshire Eagle Staff

PITTSFIELD -- Thursday was a grand day for veteran Eli Simmons, a musician and construction worker from Chicago who will soon call Pittsfield home. As the sun shone down, Simmons spoke about a bright future.

Not only does Simmons plan to live in a new veterans’ housing facility being built on West Housatonic Street, but he hopes to help construct the state-of-the-art complex, dubbed the Berkshire Veterans Village.

"I’m going to build it and live in it," said Simmons, who arrived at the Soldier On facility in Northampton in September but already is staking his future in this region.

Back in Chicago, Simmons worked in the construction industry for 30 years and struggled to make ends meet. But the proud veteran decided to relocate to New England to take advantage of the services provided by Soldier On, the Northampton-based nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the phenomenon of homeless veterans.

To that end, Soldier On is the organization behind the $6.6 million apartment complex currently under construction on the site of the former Optimum Care Nursing Home on West Housatonic Street.

"Nobody wants a handout," said Simmons. "This is a ‘hand up,’ baby."

On Thursday, Soldier On President Jack Downing hosted a groundbreaking ceremony at the nearly vacant Pittsfield Plaza on West Housatonic Street, which is located just west of the construction site.

He was joined by his nephew, state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, and a slew of other dignitaries ranging from Lt. Gov. Tim Murray to Gordon Mansfield, the former deputy secretary of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. Armed Services -- and Bob Woodruff, an ABC news correspondent wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006, originally were expected to appear at the Pittsfield ceremony, but neither man could make it, according to Jack Downing.

However, Mullen and Woodruff were scheduled to appear at a Thursday evening event in Holyoke, where Mullen was expected to receive the 2009 Soldier On award in recognition of his efforts on behalf of homeless veterans. After he was injured in Iraq, Woodruff founded the Bob Woodruff Foundation and ReMIND.org, organizations that provide support to injured service members, veterans and their families.

In Pittsfield, Downing, the president and CEO of Soldier On, spoke before a crowd of at least 300 people -- a mix of veterans, community leaders and politicians -- who gathered under a massive, white tent to learn more about the eco-friendly facility, which is expected to serve as a national model for transforming formerly homeless veterans into homeowners.

Downing said the limited equity housing project will give veterans the opportunity to own their homes by purchasing equity shares in the apartment complex. The value of a veteran’s share will be held in escrow, and if a resident chooses to move out, the value of their share will be made available to them.

The housing units will be managed by the veterans who purchase equity in the apartments. Those veterans will have completed a progression from Soldier On’s Shelter in the Leeds section of Northampton to the organization’s existing transitional facility in Pittsfield. After that, they are eligible to buy into the new equity housing complex, where they will continue to receive support from Soldier On.

Solider On plans to build another limited equity project in Leeds. The organization is also eyeing the former police academy in Agawam as a potential housing site.

The Pittsfield project got under way this fall, according to Steve Como, vice president of Soldier On, who expects work to be done by September 2010.

"They’re actually ahead of schedule," he said, referring to Salco Construction Company Inc., the project’s Pittsfield-based general contractor.

Project funding comes from a mix of federal, state and local sources, including the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, MassHousing, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the city of Pittsfield, various local and regional banks, and numerous other sources.

Since 1994, Soldier On (formerly United Veterans of America) has been helping homeless veterans by providing them shelter, counseling, job training and education. In addition to its headquarters in Leeds, Soldier On currently operates the transitional housing facility in Pittsfield at 360 W. Housatonic St.

For more information on Soldier On, visit www.wesoldieron.org.