TRAVERSE CITY -- Goodwill is ready to build the region's first and only homeless veteran's transitional housing community in Gaylord. The organization closed on the property Wednesday and announced that they will break ground at the end of the month.
Goodwill says that the four duplex homes will be built on Murner road, north of M-32 in Gaylord.
The goal is to help the some 600 homeless veterans move from the streets to independent living which can be extremely difficult task. Homeless Veteran Bruce Loose says, “For veterans to have a place that is totally theirs. guys that are homeless...guys that are trying to find the right things to get themselves help... this is going to be a 100% change for them. It is going to be somewhere they can stay, they can live, they can have an association with social workers, mental workers, people who are trying to learn what's wrong, help them change their lives.”
The housing, which will hold up to 24 veterans at a time, is expected to be completed at the end of August.
Goodwill Director of Veteran Programs Pam Cuthbert says it also will be close to the major shopping center which will create convenient job opportunities.
The project will cost about 1.8 million dollars that will come from donations and grants. In fact Goodwill received Michigan's only 2010 Capital Grant from the Department of Veteran Affairs.
