September 23, 2011 - Handyman and Vietnam War veteran Chuck Oglesby works all he can and stays away from drugs and alcohol. He also is homeless.“A lot of veterans housing is designed for guys with substance-abuse problems. Guys like me, who just can’t make enough for rent, tend to fall through the cracks,” he said.
The high number of veterans like Oglesby led the Regional Housing Alliance of La Plata County and the Volunteers of America to team up on a project to provide affordable housing for Durango’s low-income military veterans.
Last year, the Durango Community Shelter served 555 people, and 17 percent of them were veterans, said Volunteers of America division director Sarada Leavenworth. Many of those veterans, like many of her homeless clients, have jobs. They simply cannot afford Durango-area rents.
Both Leavenworth and Regional Housing Alliance Executive Director Jennifer Lopez emphasize the project is in its very early “talking and looking” stage. They will discuss their idea with the City Council at some point this month.
“We’re looking around for a piece of land that the city or someone might be willing to give us,” Lopez said. “The only way we could afford this project is if someone gave us the land.”
Lopez believes an affordable-land crisis in Durango is intertwined with the affordable-housing crisis hitting residents with modest incomes. Her dream for veterans’ housing is a group of handicapped-accessible apartments or bungalows near a bus line so veterans without a car could still get to their jobs and the Veteran Affairs Center. read more>>>
"And so what I've been trying to do and what Mrs. Biden and Mrs. Obama and the chairman and his wife - all these folks, are trying to do is to - is to try and get that other 99 percent to - they all say they support the troops, but it's not just enough to say it." - Defense Secretary Robert Gates - 23 June 2011 - PBS News Hour
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