With $5 million in federal funds, the state Department of Veterans Affairs plans to renovate three buildings on the Rocky Hill campus for temporary veterans housing.
The project is to provide up to 46 bedrooms for veterans and their families in three existing buildings, Deputy Commissioner Joseph D. Danao II said Tuesday. The facilities are meant to help veterans in a variety of circumstances, Danao said, from U.S. Navy sailors transitioning to civilian life after service at the Groton submarine base to homeless veterans and their families.
The money comes from the American Rescue Plan Act and all funding must be contracted by Dec. 31.
"Whatever money is not obligated by the end of year, we have to give it back," Danao said, "so we're working really hard with our partner state agencies to execute this and get the most out of this program for our veterans."
The work is to include assessment and abatement of asbestos and lead, renovations that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, painting, and purchase of appliances and furniture. The project includes 11 three-bedroom apartments and rooms paired around shared bathrooms.
The buildings, which date to about 1940, are in fairly good shape and originally housed agency staff, Danao said. Veterans have occupied some of the rooms within the past year, while other spaces have been vacant for a decade or more.
Department staff is working with state legislators, the state housing department, and other state agencies to complete the project, Danao said. The rooms will be for temporary housing, which is initially up to one year but can be extended to two years.
With housing as a priority, House Majority Leader Rep. Jason Rojas, D- East Hartford, said Wednesday that he and other legislators have been asking state agencies "to think about state-owned properties that could be used to advance housing goals." Rep. Kerry Wood, a Democrat who serves Rocky Hill and Wethersfield, invited him to tour the Veterans Home campus, Rojas said, "as they had existing residential buildings that had been offline for some time.
"After touring the properties," he said, "I made it a priority to secure resources to bring these properties back online."
The project is meant to build on an existing program known as Patriots Landing, which currently consists of five furnished single-family homes. The program houses veterans and their families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, providing supportive services meant to help veterans achieve their goals and find permanent housing. Over the last two months, two veterans and their families graduated from the housing program to their own independent living arrangements, according to the agency.
Residential services on the Rocky Hill campus are meant for Connecticut veterans who were honorably discharged or released under honorable conditions from active service in the armed forces. Eligible veterans include those who live in the state or were residents at the time of enlistment or induction into military service.
On a related front, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D- Connecticut, recently announced new federal guidelines that will discontinue a policy of including veterans' disability payments as income when they apply for affordable housing, a change meant to make housing available to more veterans.
Anastasia Woolcock, director of housing for West Hartford-based Journey Home, said Friday that the most common barrier for veterans to gain access to affordable housing is the income threshold and that, as a result, her organization has housing units unfilled.
"We have 100 veterans on our waiting list, 70 of them in greater Hartford," Woolcock said Friday. "We're excited that there is a solution on the way."
Sharon Castelli, CEO of Hartford-based Chrysalis Center, said the affordable housing crisis for veterans and all Connecticut residents was exacerbated by the pandemic, which resulted in a flood of people moving into the state from New York and other neighboring states. As a result, she said, landlords raised rents because of the competition and also made other changes, such as requiring three months rent in advance.
"It priced our vets right out," Castelli said.
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