MSHDA grant offers hope to Detroit’s homeless veterans

One of the biggest problems that veterans face today is homelessness. In an effort to reduce homelessness among the state’s veterans in 2016, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) approved two grants on January 29.

The Michigan Veterans Foundation will receive a Housing Development Fund grant of $2 million. The funds will go toward the construction of a new facility to deliver services to over 1,200 homeless and low-income veterans in Detroit and southeast Michigan each year. Another grant of $750,000 was also approved to provide homeless veterans with rental assistance for up to six months.

The 44,000-square-foot Detroit Veteran’s Center will house social services, transitional living facilities for 100 to 150 veterans, job training, education and employment support, and health care. MSHDA funding will require the developer to secure community support and raise operating costs for the $14 million project.

From 2014 to 2015, MSHDA helped 3,200 homeless veterans in Michigan find accommodation. Providing veterans with opportunities for housing allows them to address other challenges they may be facing, such as health care, education or employment.

MSHDA board chairman Steve Arwood said, “I see an opportunity for businesses to step up and give veterans living in poverty and homelessness a chance to interview for jobs, which will help them integrate back into the mainstream work force.”

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