Last year, the BATC-Housing First Minnesota Foundation partnered up with Lennar to build a home for veteran families. Now, the first family to live in the 2017 home has successfully moved into a place of their own.
Richard, his wife and their seven children moved into the home built for the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) shortly after it was completed last fall. Richard was honorably discharged from the service in 2013. When he got out, he started attending a for-profit school for culinary arts in Arizona using the GI Bill. While he was attending school, it closed due to fraud relating to the use of the GI Bill for veterans, and he struggled to find employment. Soon after Richard and his family became homeless.
A friend recommended to Richard that he come to Minnesota to find work. After two short weeks, he was employed and his wife and children came up from Arizona to join him. But once they arrived, they could not find housing to accommodate the size of the family. That’s when he reached out to MACV, who just so happened to be the new owners of a newly constructed, five-bedroom home.
The home had plenty of room for Richard and his large family. After a year of living in the home built by the BATC-Housing First Minnesota Foundation and Lennar, Richard and his family have just moved into a place of their own. With the help of MACV, Richard and his family have not spent another night homeless and are on their way to moving forward with their lives.
The BATC-Housing First Minnesota Foundation and build partner Lennar helped construct another home for MACV in 2018. The second home is being used to house homeless veteran women. There are plans to complete another home for MACV in the near future.
