A Kansas City-based nonprofit is engaging in a multi-pronged effort in Longmont to provide options for troubled military veterans.
A community of 26 tiny homes for veterans facing homelessness is the undertaking that is attracting the most attention, said Paul Melroy, executive director of Veterans Community Project Colorado. “It’s the bright shiny object that seems to attract the attention of most people,” Melroy said.
The tiny home community is estimated to cost over $5 million to build. Plans call for the construction of five 340-square-foot-homes for families able to sleep up to seven people. The remaining homes will be 240 square feet for single residents.
Veterans will live free in the homes stocked with new furniture, appliances, housewares and bedding while they are looking for permanent housing. Utilities also are paid, according to the Veterans Community Project.
The tiny home village — which will be off Nelson Road to the west of Home Depot and Target— also will feature a 3,000-foot community center. Veterans can gather there to get information about programs to rebuild their lives, Melroy said.
The Longmont Veterans Village, which broke ground in August, is based on Veterans Village in Kansas City, Missouri, and is the first expansion of the Kansas City program. The Kansas City model began housing veterans in 2018 and is just starting to see veterans graduating to permanent housing, Melroy said.
HSM Development is donating the land and infrastructure for the Longmont project. Donations for the project are welcome at Veterans Community Village Longmont.
Veterans Community Project Longmont recently established a permanent home in Longmont after moving into the former offices of the Longmont Housing Authority, 1228 Main St., Melroy said.
The office will allow for face-to-face meetings with veterans who can walk in with problems and questions, he said. Up until now, staff members have worked remotely and met clients and others through Zoom meetings, he said.
“Eventually you want to talk to people in person, get to know them more on a personal level,” Melroy said.
The new office in Longmont will be the home base of an outreach push to get to homeless veterans in the city to address their needs, Melroy said.
“We really want to take a deep dive with our clients to see what is really going on with them,” Melroy said. The organization will add staff members to start the outreach effort.
Veterans Community Project “is not out to reinvent the wheel” and duplicate services offered to area veterans. “We want to work hand-in-hand with other agencies, other nonprofits to help out our veterans as much as we can,” Melroy said.
Longmont VFW Post 2601, which moves into a new permanent space tomorrow, will be a key partner in reaching out to veterans, Melory said.
“We love working with those guys,” he said. “They are in touch with what’s going on out there.”
VFW Quartermaster Leon Bartholomay, a Vietnam veteran, said the arrival of the Veterans Community Project in Longmont is a welcome addition to an effort to help veterans. “We’re working with them when we can, and we want to continue to do that.”
