A New Housing Effort for the Nation’s Homeless Warriors

African Americans are celebrating the bravery of the nation’s veterans this Memorial Day. From sea to shining sea, flags are on display, grills have been readied, and memories are being shared. But there is a growing concern for the plight of veterans who are homeless.

Some cities are looking for ways to erase the housing instability their veterans face. In Kansas City, the Veterans Community Project is offering hope. The group is gaining national attention for its community of tiny homes built specifically for veterans.

Henry Owens served in the military. After his service, he was homeless for almost a decade. On the website for the Veterans Community Project, Owens says, “You feel a sense of desperation, loneliness. I had no hope.”

In January 2013, experts estimated that 12 percent of the homeless population was comprised of veterans. Most of the homeless veterans were in California. By 2015 when the government’s Housing and Urban Development released a report, there were 47,000 homeless veterans in the country, and most of them were White men.

Brandon Mixon, one of the founders of Veterans Community Project, talks about the reason he started the effort.

“We’re pulling these guys out of the trenches in their battle and saving their lives because they would have done the exact same for us,” Mixon says in an interview on the project’s website. “They could have been that guy that saved my life in Afghanistan or pulled me to safety.”