ALBANY, GA -
One third of homeless adults in this country are Veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 107,000 veterans are homeless on any given night.
Flint River Habitat for Humanity wants to help.
They asked the city of Albany for federal grant money to help build homes for veterans.
Those are unfortunate statistics, which is why Flint River Habitat for Humanity is doing their part to help veterans in Dougherty County, especially disable veterans, get off the streets and into homes.
"They should be taken care of," says David Wonderful Wright.
David Wright doesn't like seeing the thousands of veterans, homeless and living on the streets.
"I don't think a veteran should be homeless you know, they should have some type of program set up for veterans," says Wright.
And the problem hits close to home for Wright, because his father served in the military. "My dad is a 20 year veteran, he has served in the US army, he was an airborne ranger," says Wright.
His family has lived in this home for more than 40 years and he thinks it's great that Flint River Habitat for Humanity will build two new homes across the street.
"We specifically designated this for veterans, we wanted to do something for our veterans, so we contacted all of the veteran agencies and they are working with us," says Jimmy Cross, Flint River Habitat for Humanity Construction Manager.
Cross says there is a great need for veteran housing all over the country. In 2010, Dougherty County was home to more than 8,000 veterans and the number is growing.
"There is more veterans coming back form Afghanistan and Iraq," says Cross.
Habitat already has built several homes on Sunny Lane in Albany and thinks these two new homes will be a nice addition to the street.
"We have a vacant lot on Sunny Lane and the city owned two lots on either side so we had an opportunity to build in that section," says Cross.
282 college students have already signed up to volunteer to help build these homes.
"From colleges all over the United States, we have Harvard even," says Cross.
Habitat is hoping the city approves their request to use up to $100,000 in federal HUD money to build these handicap accessible homes.
Each house will be about 1200 square feet.
"It is a neat little floor plan, and there is no wasted space, and it is energy efficient, low maintenance, it is just a win, win, win," says Wright.
Construction Manager Cross says they will try to keep the cost of building each home under $60,000 each.
The commission tentatively approved the measure and will give a final vote at their meeting next Tuesday night.
Copyright 2011 WALB. All rights reserved.
