Affordable Housing for Veterans
Thousands of veterans in America are homeless – in fact 1 in 5 homeless individuals in America are veterans. Additionally, a large number of displaced and at-risk veterans live with lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are several factors that contribute to the growing homeless veteran population including the extreme shortage of affordable housing and lack of support networks and access to necessary health care services.
Serving Those Who Served
With the increasing number of returning veterans in need of affordable housing, Mercy Housing is looking at how we can best serve this segment of the population. Mercy Housing is partnering with veterans organizations throughout the country to develop service-enriched supportive housing for homeless veterans.
Leonard’s Story
We strive to help residents like Leonard, a World War II veteran who was living alone in a mobile home and struggling with grief following the death of his wife. Leonard was able to move into an affordable home at Mercy Housing Lakefront’s Countryside Senior Apartments.
Now, Leonard not only calls his apartment “home,” he calls it “heaven.” He says he thrives in the community atmosphere of the building. “I never want to leave this place,” he shared. Watch Leonard’s Story >
We hope you will join with us to honor our veterans for their service and hope you will partner with us to end veteran homelessness and make sure that all veterans have access to the resources and support they’ve earned. We hope to provide the vibrant, affordable communities that veterans need to find stability so they can thrive.
Addressing the Need
- According to HUD 62,619 veterans are homeless on any given night, however over the course of a year, approximately twice that many experience homelessness at one time.
- RAND estimates that ⅓ of the 1.6 million of the returning veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will have returned with traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and/or severe depression.
Please consider donating to Mercy Housing to support veterans through affordable housing and supportive programs.
