New housing planned for Kansas City veterans

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A new project in central Kansas City will provide homes and social services for up to 58 veterans, as the first step in a much larger vision to help veterans.

The St. Michael's Veterans Center will eventually be a $34 million complex with three buildings offering 180 affordable rental units on a 24-acre site, along with large and small gathering areas, outpatient medical care, and rooms for physical fitness, computer and job training. It's close to bus lines, shopping areas, churches and the Truman Sports Complex, The Kansas City Star reported.

The project is a partnership between Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph and Yarco Co., which develops and manages special needs multifamily housing.

"It's far more beautiful than I ever imagined it would or could be," said Kansas City lawyer and Vietnam veteran Art Fillmore, who has been a driving force for providing services for veterans for years.

The apartments have wheelchair-accessible rooms, granite countertops and tile floors in the kitchens, stylish ceiling fans and walk-in showers.

"We've tried to make it as personal as we can, as friendly as we can," Yarco chairman Cliff Cohn said. "This is going to be somebody's castle."

The first building will be fully leased when it opens June 30, primarily with Vietnam veterans but also others form Desert Storm and more recent combat.

With their housing problems answered, the residents can work to solve other challenges, said Eric Verzola, a retired Army major and Iraq combat veteran who is now Catholic Charities' veterans' services director.

"When you don't have a place to live, that burden is on you," Verzola said. "It consumes you, and other things start getting out of control."

Catholic Charities and a dozen other agencies will provide everything from legal and financial assistance to post-traumatic stress recovery and companion animals at the site.

The need for the program is evident. A Kansas City-area count Jan. 30 identified 200 homeless veterans, including 101 in emergency shelters, 62 in transitional housing and 35 unsheltered. Catholic Charities estimates the number is closer to 1,400 to 1,800.

The first building cost about $11 million, financed with some federal grants and an investment from a U.S. Bank community development subsidiary using federal and state low-income tax credits. The city contributed about $1.2 million to grade the site and build a new road.

Tax credits to fund the second building were recently approved. The city will contribute $1.2 million in block grant funds for a service center in the second building. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall and should take about 18 months.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com