Homeward bound for vets
Monday, August 9, 2010
JERREY ROBERTS
John F. Downing, right, president and CEO of Soldier On, speaks in Northampton in 2008. He is leading an effort to create housing in the region that homeless veterans will have an option to partly own.
One of the many tragedies of war is that even those who return can struggle to find their way home all the way back, that is, into shelter that nurtures and protects. The Soldier On program in Leeds is poised to expand the important role it plays in addressing this long-standing problem.
The nonprofit organization came away from the whirlwind wrap-up of the state Legislatures session with a deal to acquire a former police academy property in Agawam. It plans to erect housing for homeless veterans on the nearly 7-acre site, for which it will pay $1.
If all goes according to plan, Soldier On and Massachusetts will be partners in a novel experiment to get past problems that have hobbled efforts to reduce homelessness among veterans.
Instead of providing temporary or transitional housing, the Soldier On venture will enable participating veterans to purchase shares of the properties, just as condominium owners do their units. In this way, the $12 million project echoes other efforts in the region to guide chronically homeless people into permanent housing, ending cycles of dislocation and distress that exacerbate individual and family problems.
Until it closed more than five years ago, the Western Massachusetts Regional Police Academy operated on the Agawam site. A building there will be converted into 40 studio apartments in the projects first phase. Before the work is complete in three years, 125 units are planned, according to John F. Downing, president and chief executive officer of Soldier On.
The apartments will be small at about 550 square feet each but will come with amenities tailored to this initiative. Within the complex, veterans will be able to consult with on-site staff prepared to provide psychological, social and vocational services. Another building may go up on the property to provide a dining commons and community center.
For Soldier On, the Agawam project is but one of a number of steps being taken to better serve its clients, Downing said. It plans to create similar housing at the veterans shelter it already runs in Pittsfield, as well as at its quarters at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds.
The shelters offer temporary housing for veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and other maladies linked to their military service.
Over the years, Soldier On has seen the shortcomings of temporary housing. Gains forged through care in such centers can erode, Downing notes, when veterans try to make it on their own without support.
The breakthrough concept? Provide permanent housing as well as an equity stake in those homes. To make the money end work, Soldier On will tap federal resources for veterans including federal Section 8 housing vouchers along with private support.
For its part, Agawam stands to see a state property return to local tax rolls.
Given the depth of the problem, no one expects an easy win here. But this is a creative approach that could put people who served our country on a real path home.