Area's First Permanent Veteran Housing in the Works

Plans are in the works to provide the area's first permanent housing support for veterans.

Community Hope, a private non-profit organization, currently provides housing and services to homeless veterans through New Jersey's largest transitional housing program on the Lyons campus of the VA, located at 151 Knollcroft Road.

Now they are planning to expand from the 95-bed transitional housing to create a permanent housing option for veterans. They leased 16 acres for 75 years from the Lyons campus of the Veterans' Affairs New Jersey health care system to build 90 units of permanent housing, with construction to begin in about a year. The building will hold 84 1-bedroom condos and five or six 2-bedroom condos.

"We see a need for this housing both for the veterans that we're currently serving as well as projecting the needs for those veterans that are returning from combat.  [They] may be in need of handicapped accessible housing if they've had physical injuries, as well as those who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury. There is a high incidence of that with the current troops," said Julia Ahmet, Vice President of Development at Community Hope.

Residents of the housing will have many services available to them, although they will be less intensive than the services offered in the transitional housing. Veterans will be able to have case management for assistance with collecting entitlements, as well as assistance in taking advantage of services offered by Veterans' Affairs. Other support will include employment services and healthcare assistance.

"What we're trying to do is provide a much-needed service for individuals who have served their country. Our other program, the transitional housing program, has been open for five years now and we've had a tremendous amount of success getting people back in the community, back into the work force and reunited with their families," said Michael Armstrong, CEO of Community Hope. "Those folks can only stay with us for two years in that program; this is just a natural extension of that. After they graduate from that program they can move on to this program."

Congress recently authorized vacant land and buildings on VA campuses to be appropriated for veterans in need of housing. Community Hope is partnering with EA Fish in Braintree, Massachusetts, who will construct the $20-23 million project. Michael Armstrong, CEO of Community Hope, anticipates another $7,000 to $8,000 in cost for the services that will be provided to veterans.

The authorization did not come with any federal funding, so Community Hope and EA Fish will be responsible with coming up with the funding for both the building and the services to be provided, according to Armstrong.

Community Hope is currently working on putting together the funding for the project, and hopes to begin construction in about a year. Armstrong said he anticipates that it will be at least three years before veterans will be able to actually reside in the housing.

Ahmet said the housing would be affordable and the cost to the veterans will be based on their income, with federally-based rental assistance so that veterans will not be paying more than 30 percent of their income.

There are no other permanent housing offerings available to veterans in the area, according to Ahmet.

"This project is a first in many respects," she said. "This will afford veterans a place to call home, a place to call their own and to continue to receive whatever support services they need to remain independent."