Page 6 - Aerotech News and Review, April 5, 2019

From the street to a home of one’s own
by Alisha Semchuck
staff writer
For the Antelope Valley’s population of low-income and homeless veterans and their families, some hope prevails that they can move from the precarious housing situations they endure night and day, to a secure dwelling complete with kitchen, bedrooms, a living room and indoor plumbing — essentially a place to call home.
That vision is becoming possible through the efforts of an organization called Homes4Families, a nonprofit group, and its network of corporate and community partners. After successfully constructing Veteran Enriched Neigh- borhoods in several Southern California communities, most recently in Santa Clarita, fundraising is underway for the newest Homes4Families development in the city of Palmdale. Hunt Braly, Homes4Families Board of Directors chairman, outlined the financial needs for the project to a group of more than 100 community leaders and dignitaries who attended an informational lunch March 26 at the Antelope Valley Coun- try Club.
According to Braly, the organization is seeking corporate, foundation and community contributions of $56,000 per home, with $40,000 of that go- ing toward construction and $16,000 for enrichment services and the com- munity common areas. The Palmdale project will include 56 units, with 10 of them being fully ADA compliant, to accommodate veterans with special health needs. Braly said only 2 percent of the funding raised for the Palmdale community will go toward administra- tive and overhead costs. The balance of funds go toward services and construc- tion costs. $3.1 million in total funds are needed for the project.
“The city of Palmdale has been tre- mendously supportive,” Braly said of the project planned for construction at Avenue R and Division Street. Palm- dale contributed the land, he noted.
This project also has the backing of local elected officials including As- semblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale; State Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita; Los Angeles County 5th District Su- pervisor Kathryn Barger; Congress- woman Katie Hill, D-Acton; and the entire Palmdale City Council. Former Congressman Steve Knight and wife Lily, Homes4Families volunteers, also showed their support by attending the event.
“Why did we do this in the Antelope Valley?” Donna Deutchman, chief ex- ecutive officer and president of Homes- 4Families asked rhetorically. “There’s more than 15,000 veterans in the Ante- lope Valley,” she said, answering her own question. “That’s more than six times the national average. That says something about your community. You have a spirit.”
Deutchman said Homes4Families makes every effort to collaborate with the various veterans’ programs that al- ready exist locally. “We never want to take away. We want to add. The city is behind us. The county is behind us. The state is behind us.
“There is a desperate problem of homelessness amongst our veterans.
6
Courtesy photograph
An artists’ rendition of a Palmdale Veteran Enriched Neighborhood home. Homes4Families has broken ground on a 56-home Veteran Enriched Neighborhood for low-income veteran families. The 10-acre site at Avenue R and Division Street will include a community garden and a community playground. All the homes will be single-story, and several will be fully ADA accessible units.
We want to prevent homelessness, to the extent we can. We have a model where we can build homes and charge the same amount as a one-bedroom apartment,” Deutchman said.
That means veterans can afford the homes “and move up the economic ladder,” Deutchman noted. “They also need to have that continuum of care,” in areas including financial literacy, health and wellness, child develop- ment and trauma care to treat the invis- ible wounds of war. “That’s why we’re doing the Enriched Neighborhood Program for veterans.” The program is based on proven results, as well as over 10 years of research, and includes a partnership with the California De- partment of Veterans Affairs. More than 380 families have been served in five Enriched Neighborhoods to date.
This program gives recipients af- fordable, permanent housing. Deutch- man said they build equity over time and they can’t flip the homes. That’s part of the agreement. Also, if they are physically capable, they must contrib- ute 500 hours to some part of the build- ing process “as part of the deal.”
Grading of the Palmdale site is un- derway, with utility installation to fol- low. The first 15 families will be able to move into their homes in 2020, Braly said. “As we can raise money up front, and leverage what we get from
CalV et and other foundations, we can build quicker and get these families in faster.”
“I carry my own general contrac- tor’s license,” said Brailey Franco, the general site superintendent. He told the crowd that 40 percent of the work is handled by volunteers. With subcon- tractors and volunteers at the construc- tion site, Franco said, “it’s great to work beside each other. It keeps the costs down when volunteers come out. Grad- ing is one job volunteers do. We have footings we have to put in. Volunteers help put down sandbags. It’s blood, sweat and tears in every one of these homes. V olunteers love our program. It is the true American Dream.”
Donielle DeLeon, director of Corpo- rate and Community Engagement, fo- cused on TEAMBuild, a program for corporate and association groups to get involved. Corporations like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and An- telope V alley Chevrolet in Lancaster decided on an amount of money they want to contribute and then a group of company employees and managers spend a day working at the construction site — a sort of pay-to-play approach.
DeLeon said participants kick off the day with a continental breakfast and they receive TEAMBuild T-shirts. Then they have lunch with a veteran family who qualified for a home. They
also get invited to special events and have their participation announced to the media. A contribution of $5,000 allows them up to 20 TEAMBuild par- ticipants, with packages available for groups of up to 60 participants.
“We’re all here for the common good,” DeLeon said. “You become part of something bigger.”
“We build a community,” Braly said. “They are veterans. They are neigh- bors.”
“They develop a support system for each other within their community,” said Bridgett Mills, senior director of Program Design and Urban Planning. They also have support from the larger community, she added.
Braly emphasized that partnerships are key to the success of the Homes- 4Families program. In addition to the city of Palmdale, the V ets4V eterans organization became a partner.
Tom Hilzendeger, president and founder of Vets4Veterans, said he has a veteran family that was homeless already living in a Lancaster home his group purchased and renovated — that group’s first home. It is meant as a transitional dwelling for temporary residents. That family is expected to eventually move into a house in Palmdale’s Veteran Enriched Neigh- borhood.
Veteran families that qualify for the Homes4Families program must be at a low-income status, and have some source of income to pay a mortgage. They must also be first-time home buyers willing to contribute 500 hours in the construction process.
Sophia Reyes, the housing coordi- nator in Palmdale’s Neighborhood Ser- vices Department, said both her sons are Marine veterans and the Homes- 4Families program gives them hope.
Palmdale City Councilwoman Laura Bettencourt said she not only supports the project as a city official, but also backs it for personal reasons. “We have the Air Force Base as our neigh- bor.” In addition, Bettencourt said her father and her stepfather served in the same war, at the same time. Her grandfather, a World War II veteran and part of the Greatest Generation, suffered severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Because he dealt with finan- cial hardships, he lived in a Quonset hut, where he committed suicide. That experience makes the Homes4Families project deeply personal to her.
In addition to larger financial con- tributions and the corporate and group TEAMBuild programs, opportunities for individuals to get involved with Homes4Families are also available. A “Hard Hats for Heroes” Club is avail- able, which accepts monthly contribu- tions of between $10 and $50, which go directly to building homes and futures for low-income veterans and their families. Opportunities for indi- vidual build volunteers are also avail- able throughout the year.
Veterans who are in need of hous- ing are invited to begin the application process at any time. To qualify, you must have a DD-214 with an honor- able discharge or code equivalent, be low-income, and a first-time homebuy- er (must not have owned a home in the last three years). Lack of creditworthi- ness is not an obstacle to applying. As- sisting applicants with financial coun- seling and credit repair is part of the service offered by Homes4Families.
To get involved, visit www.Homes- 4Families.org, or call 818-884-8808.
Aerotech News and Review
April 5, 2019
www.aerotechnews.com ........ facebook.com/aerotechnewsandreview