Ceremonial ground breaking held for Veterans Village

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) - Plans are moving ahead to address homelessness among veterans in our community. The vision is to offer our military heroes affordable housing and help them live better lives.

The plan is to demolish a building at 3600 Harlem Road in Cheektowaga and build a Veterans Village. This effort is being led by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which has been very active across the country following 9/11.

On Thursday, a ceremonial groundbreaking was held with federal, state and local leaders.
The Veterans Village will provide affordable housing to over 90 veterans.

The organization says one of its goals is to rid homelessness among veterans nationwide. They've established Veterans Villages in other parts of the country, such as Houston; Riverside, California; West Los Angeles, California; and Phoenix.

More are planned in cities nationwide, including Bradenton, Florida, Mableton, Georgia, and Island Park, NY as well as Denver, Colorado, Charleston, South Carolina, Detroit, Michigan, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Once complete in about two years, the facility will provide services crucial to veterans.

"Supportive services including employment assistance, recovery support, financial literacy, behavioral health support, legal advocacy all for our homeless veterans because no veteran in this country should ever sleep on the street, not in New York, not anywhere," said Matt Mahoney, the executive vice president of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

Other services include: benefits assistance, education assistance, medical care access, mental health support, PTSD counseling, and addiction treatment.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation says 38,000 veterans have documented themselves as being homeless, but the foundation believes that number is much higher.

Construction is expected to start in the spring.