After sustaining arm and leg injuries from shrapnel and a traumatic brain injury from a suicide bomb attack while in Afghanistan, veteran Everett “Alex” Haworth thought that life was on the upswing: He and his wife Mallorie closed on a house in Olmsted Township, Ohio and moved in with their baby daughter.
But unfortunately, their troubles were just beginning. Their remodeled ranch home passed its inspection, but once the family settled in, they discovered rampant mold behind the new drywall — rendering the house unlivable.
The family relocated, moving in with Mallorie’s mom, but they still had to pay the mortgage on their ruined home, a difficult proposition with Alex still in rehab and Mallorie completing her master’s degree in psychology, all the while raising their daughter.
“We put money in our house and in our attorney. We ran out of money both ways,” Mallorie told Regina Brett of the Cleveland Plain Dealer back in February. “It hurts. It’s been a few months of no hope. We’re not the kind to ask for help. We want to be the ones helping.”
But this month, a group of volunteers from the Home Depot, the Carpenters Union and members of the VFW are tearing out the damaged parts of the Haworth’s home and refurbishing it, providing new bathrooms, paint and even landscaping.
Alex tells Enrique Correa of Fox 8 Cleveland, “We are gonna have more than a home; we are gonna have our lives restored…It’s amazing and very humbling to know that people you never met a day in your life before, are coming to help you out.”
These very deserving homeowners should be able to move in by the end of October.
MORE: This Community Wants Veterans as Residents, So it’s Providing the Down Payment on New Houses
Tag: Housing Veterans
This Community Wants Veterans as Residents, So It’s Providing the Down Payment on New Houses
In Braidwood, a town of about 5,000 people in northern Illinois, sit vacant dilapidated homes and empty lots full of weeds growing taller than fire hydrants. The roads are so rough and pothole-riddled that the post office threatened to cut off delivery.
Back in 2009, a developer started construction on a new housing subdivision — the Townes of Braidwood — but filed for bankruptcy before its completion. This left those who’d already purchased houses in a major jam, so the homeowners appealed to their town for help.
This year, the village of Braidwood finally purchased the vacant lots in the subdivision and came up with a plan to fill them and stabilize the neighborhood. And it’s a good one: They’re offering to supply the down payment on a home for any veteran or first responder that wants one.
Through the Illinois program Welcome Home Heroes, Braidwood will give veterans who want to buy a lot in the subdivision a $10,000 state-funded grant, and any firefighters, police officers, or other first responders will be provided a $7,000 grant. According to Jessica Bourque of the Morris Daily Herald, all veterans in Illinois can receive an $18,000 grant to be put toward housing on top of the $10,000 that Braidwood is offering.
Restoration America, a nonprofit that helps revitalize abandoned properties, will build 35 new houses in the subdivision that will first be offered to veterans and emergency responders, though anyone can purchase them.
Braidwood Mayor Bill Rulien told Bourque, “Veterans, as a group, are people that are good at volunteering, that are good at teamwork, that will help their neighbors. They are people you want in your community.”
Braidwood is located 18 miles south of Joliet, Illinois, where the new Edward Hines Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic has just been completed. Charles Konkus of Restoration America told Bourque, “Our goal here is to get veterans into new housing and have them serviced by the new veterans hospital in Joliet.”
Rulien and Konkus will visit nearby veterans events in the coming months to let former soldiers know about the housing available to them. And with any luck, the once-beleaguered Townes of Braidwood will become a great place to live in.
How L.A. Plans to End Veteran Homelessness by 2016
It’s virtually unanimous: Most of us believe that all veterans who have served this country deserve to have roofs over their heads. As a result, cities across the country are working toward the goal of housing all the homeless vets in their communities. (Special props to Phoenix for already accomplishing this.) And now, the mayor of the city with the biggest veteran homelessness problem has pledged to join this quest.
In total, Los Angeles County has 6,300 homeless veterans — more than any other county in the United States. So on July 16, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to end veteran homelessness, at least for the 2,600 living within city limits by 2015.
Garcetti made this vow during the Unite for Veterans Summit, which included First Lady Michelle Obama. “The image of even one of these heroes sleeping out in the cold, huddled up next to an overpass—that should horrify all of us,” Obama said, according to Gale Holland of the Los Angeles Times. “Because that’s not who we are. And the truth is, we know that there are simple steps that we can take — whether that’s in business or government or in our communities — to prevent and solve these kinds of problems,” she said.
Los Angeles has 17 months to fulfill its promise, and it’s already working towards achieving it. The pipe fitters, elevator construction, painters and sheet metal worker unions are lending a hand by giving veterans first priority in their apprenticeship programs. And, earlier this year, construction began on renovating a Los Angeles County VA building into housing and supportive services for homeless veterans.
According to the Los Angeles Times, mayors from 40 states have already committed to the Obama administration’s challenge to end veteran homelessness. So hopefully the country is well on its way to meeting that goal.
MORE: Phoenix Just Became the First City to End Chronic Veteran Homelessness. Here’s How.
This Veteran is Building Better Futures for Other Service Members
It takes someone special to have not only a vision, but be able to implement it, too. And that’s exactly what Patrick Clark has done.
When Clark retired from the Marines, he struggled for a while to determine what he would do for the rest of his life. He found his calling by starting a home renovation company — REIG Construction — in San Diego. Now that he’s found success in his civilian life, he wants to help other veterans through a program his company is launching called Operation: Renovation.
Clark told Bob Lawrence of ABC 10 that when he left the military in 2005, he wasn’t sure what to do next. “It’s the great unknown, [that question of] what are you going to do out there is looming. There were times when I contemplated going back to where I grew up.” He ended up staying in southern California and co-founding the construction company that buys dilapidated homes and renovates them. REIG Construction now employ 43 workers, including several other veterans. After just three years in business, Clark and the others in REIG are ready to give back.
Ryan Yahner, a Marine sergeant who served three tours of combat duty before receiving a Purple Heart and being medically discharged, volunteers with REIG and is overseeing Operation: Renovation. “It gives me a chance to help another Marine out, like I used to do for so many years. So it kind of gives me that pride back.”
REIG Construction is inviting active duty military and veterans to apply by July 31 for the chance to receive a complimentary home renovation, which will be completed by Veterans Day 2014. According to REIG’s website, “Our goal with Operation: Renovation is to celebrate, honor, and change the life of one local military family in need through a passionate and purposed home renovation.”
MORE: Here’s An Idea to Stabilize Neighborhoods and Help Veterans
Here’s An Idea to Stabilize Neighborhoods and Help Veterans
It’s a simple idea: Why not revitalize blighted communities by housing heroes in vacant homes?
In Pittsburg, California, a Bay Area town that’s come upon some hard times recently, disabled veteran J.R. Wilson is rallying the community by attempting to solve the problems of homelessness among local service members and neighborhoods full of abandoned houses.
Wilson, the executive director of the nonprofit Delta Veterans Group, told Angela Hart of the Contra Costa Times, “We are working with local leaders and the community to bring veterans into our neighborhoods and to fill our vacant houses. This will not only help fight our blight problems, but it’ll help veterans who are transitioning into civilian life and who may be facing homelessness or who could have suicidal thoughts.”
On June 28, the American Legion Post in Antioch, California hosted a “Veterans Home-Buying Triage” event, bringing together local veterans with real estate professionals, mortgage lenders, and city officials. Wilson helped organize a similar event in Pittsburg a few weeks earlier.
Wilson’s goal is to bring the area back to its former glory. “Growing up here, we never used to see this much vacancy or homelessness,” he said. “We really want to get the attention of asset managers and city officials, then work with code enforcement and get those houses on the market.”
The new programs come just in the nick of time for Army veteran Alan Johnson, who told Hart, “We just got married, and we found out we’re expecting.” After meeting with a local mortgage consultant at the Pittsburg event, Johnson is now well on his way to finding an affordable home for his growing family.
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When This Vet’s House Started to Crumble, Home Depot Stepped in with a $20,000 Renovation
Many of us have heard of the pervasive problem of homeless veterans, which the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates number between 130,000 and 200,000 on any given night. But what about vets who own homes, but due to disability or financial troubles, can’t afford to maintain them? Staff at the City of Miami Services Office became concerned about this issue and partnered with Home Depot to provide grants to renovate vets’ homes that badly need it.
The first to benefit from this program is Army veteran George Carswell. Disabled due to his service in Vietnam, Carswell lived with his mother Minnie Lee Spann in the home she purchased in 1964. Since her death, Carswell hasn’t had the funds to keep up with the maintenance, completing no significant repairs since 1978; the home was in danger of collapsing.
That’s when Home Depot stepped up and donated $20,000 to make the necessary improvements. Local Home Depot store manager Alberto Contreras even came out to work and personally oversee the renovation. “The house was in deplorable conditions and not livable,” Contreras told Carma Henry of the Westside Gazette. “If the house wasn’t repaired it would’ve been demolished.”
Not only did the volunteer workers stabilize the home, they beautified it, with new paint, windows, doors, sod, and a rose garden planted in the memory of Carswell’s mother.
The partnership between Miami’s Veterans Services Office and the Home Depot aims to help four more veterans with similar repairs this year. Miami mayor Thomas Regalado said, “My goal is to ensure that our Veterans are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. We are trying to get them the services they need.”
One way to reduce the number of homeless veterans is to prevent vets from becoming homeless in the first place, and the generous people behind this home repair effort in Miami are doing their best to achieve that.
MORE: Heroes of the Gridiron Lend A Hand to a Battlefield Hero
Heroes of the Gridiron Lend a Hand to a Battlefield Hero
Justin Adamson, center for the University of Notre dame’s famed Fighting Irish football team, doesn’t just work hard on the field. Like many other college students whose finances are tight, he holds an outside job — working at Whole Foods Market, demonstrating salad dressings.
While dolling out tasty dressings to shoppers one day at a store in Ohio, Howard Goldberg stopped by Adamson’s table. Goldberg works for the nonprofit Purple Heart Homes, which purchases and renovates affordable homes for veterans.
Goldberg must also be a smooth talker, because by the end of their salad dressing exchange, Adamson had agreed to help renovate a home for an injured veteran. Not only that, but he said he’d bring along some of his teammates to provide additional manpower. Adamson told Andrew Cass of the News-Herald that he and Goldberg “talk[ed] for about an hour just going on about what this project means to a lot of people and what it can do in the community.”
Adamson took the idea to his coaches, who in turn, presented it to the team. Thirty football players jumped at the chance to volunteer, but only 12 players were able to be transported to the project. On April 25, the dozen helped demolish a kitchen and renovate the basement of the Ohio home of Leo Robinson, a wounded Marine Corps vet. (The house had been purchased by Purple Heart Homes.)
Once the renovation is complete, Robinson will pay 50 percent of the mortgage’s value, as part of the nonprofit’s mission to give vets a “hand up, not a hand out.”
Sophomore wide receiver Dajuhn Graham said, “I love doing things like this. My dad, that’s what he does for a living, he builds houses, and I actually do things like this so it’s nothing new to me.”
Homeowner Robinson told Cass that seeing all the football players pitch in to fix up his house “feels great. When we get back after going through everything we go through, it’s like you think people don’t care anymore, that society’s dead…But there are still people who care and want to help the community out.”
MORE: These Veterans Rallied to Save A Fellow Vet From the Cold
Providing Assistance to “the Forgotten Heroes of America” is Top Priority for This Veteran
Even if you’ve had lots of bad luck come your way, there’s probably someone out there that can top it. Captain Jaspen Boothe of the Army National Guard is one of those people.
While this single mother served in Iraq in August 2005, she lost everything back home in New Orleans to Hurricane Katrina. And the hits didn’t stop there.
The very next month, she was diagnosed with “aggressive head, neck, and throat cancer,” according to her website. As a result, she could no longer be deployed overseas and needed a job to support her young son and to pay for her medical care. She inquired about around about assistance, but was told that there aren’t any organizations dedicated to specifically helping female veterans.
While undergoing radiation treatments for her cancer, Boothe managed to keep a position in the Army Reserves. Once she felt better, she joined the Army National Guard, in which she now serves, based out of Washington, D.C.
Now that she had climbed back on her feet, Boothe wanted to do something to help other female veterans caught in difficult circumstances. So in 2010, she founded the nonprofit Final Salute, Inc., with the goal of housing homeless female veterans. “When Americans think of veterans, they’re only thinking about the men. Women veterans are the forgotten heroes of America. A lot of them have fallen on hard times,” Boothe told Denise Hendricks of HLN Morning Express.
To date, Final Salute, Inc. has helped 200 veteran women and their children, and now runs three transitional homes for them in Alexandria, Virginia; Martinsburg, West Virginia; and Columbus, Ohio. Through its S.A.F.E. program (Savings Assessment and Financial Education), the organization assists women vets achieve financial stability and offers emergency assistance, and through its H.O.M.E. initiative (Housing Outreach Mentorship Encouragement), it offers housing assistance and help with food, diapers, and other essentials.
“We are not a pity party environment. We give you all the tools that you need, but your success in this program is up to you.” Boothe’s tireless efforts, she said, are “the right thing to do as an American and the right thing to do as a soldier.”
MORE: Fighting for the Women Who Fought for Their Country
This Non-Profit Puts a Debt-Free Roof Over Veterans’ Heads
After serving in the military oversees, what could be better than coming home to a warm, welcoming house? For one, arriving home to a house that doesn’t have a mortgage.
When Austin Baker returned home to Maine after eight years serving with the Marine Corps that included two tours overseas, he struggled to find his footing as he experienced anxiety and depression. “When I got out, I started my own business, it fell through and I ended up losing everything,” Baker told Katherine Underwood of CBS 13.
So he applied to Operation Homefront, a Colorado Springs-based nonprofit that helps veterans struggling with financial difficulties with whatever they need — including housing, transportation, health care, moving assistance and car repairs. This month he became the first veteran in Maine to receive a mortgage-free home from Operation Homefront’s Homes on the Homefront program.
Operation Homefront partners with financial institutions including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, and Meritage Homes who donate houses for veterans. Wells Fargo remodeled and donated the formerly foreclosed home that Baker received, which is conveniently located near the veterans services Baker needs. “I’m getting a lot better and getting a lot of help from the Portland Vet Center and the VA,” Baker said. Currently, Baker is enrolled at Southern Maine Community College, studying criminal justice, and he plans to continue on to law school. Meanwhile, he will soon move into his new home with his fiancée and kids.
Receiving the house, on which he’ll be responsible for paying the taxes, “was a big relief. I haven’t had many good things happen in a while, so it felt really good.”
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All It Took to Get This Homeless Vet an Apartment Was a Poster
Just because you have a roof over your head doesn’t mean you have a home.
When Army veteran Frank Maryn had trouble finding construction work and then lost his housing, the American Legion in Williams, Arizona took him in. He was allowed to sleep at the Legion in exchange for work that included hanging posters for programs and events. Maryn was thankful for the shelter — but it wasn’t the most comfortable home. Each night after the Legion’s bar closed, Maryn rolled out his sleeping bag on the hard floor. Eventually he got a cushion to sleep on, but the Legion post lacked a key amenity: a shower. One day Maryn hung up a poster that offered him a solution, advertising the Catholic Charities Community Services’ Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program.
Maryn told Marissa Freireich of Williams-Grand Canyon News that he didn’t call the SSVF program immediately after seeing the poster. “I was just going, well, I’ll land a full time job here or something and then I’ll just take care of this myself. But then I fell off a roof in November, so that was two months of not doing anything.” Maryn contacted SSVF, who set him up with a caseworker that located him an apartment. He moved in this month.
Catholic Charities received a million-dollar federal grant last October, which funds the SSVF program. Its goal is to end homelessness among veterans by providing them with up to five months rent and getting them on their feet by providing assistance with benefit paperwork and finding employment. They launched the SSVF program in December, and Maryn is the first veteran in Williams that the organization helped find a home.
Maryn told Freireich that he’s happy to be in his own apartment. “I’ve had a bed for two days, and except for when I was visiting somebody or something I’ve been on a floor, so that’s different. It’s nice. And the shower of course is great. I’m content.”
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