Housing aid for veterans is coming

Truman Heritage Habitat for Humanity plans to build a home in Blue Springs for a veteran, the beginning of a partnership officials hope will lead to more such projects in Eastern Jackson County.

Truman Heritage and the Veterans Community Project announced the partnership Thursday, saying they want to address the shortage of affordable housing for veterans who are working to become self-sufficient.

Truman Habitat says a private family foundation’s donation is being used to build a single-family home in what it calls a quality neighborhood in Blue Springs. It hopes to break ground by early summer. The homebuyer hasn’t yet been identified.

“Our hope is to complete it by Veterans Day” in November, said Carla Simpson, Truman Habitat’s director of development.

As funding becomes available, more homes for veterans would be built.

The Veterans Community Project, probably best known for its Tiny Houses for Homeless Veterans program, has the goal of ending homelessness among veterans. Truman Habitat was named a Veteran Build Affiliate by Habitat for Humanity International last November, just one of three in the state.

This project will follow Habitat’s model of working with an individual or family committed to a homebuyer education program, contributing sweat equity and repaying an affordable loan at zero interest.

Org Article posted on the examiner.net