Mather Air Park Tripling Amount Of Housing For Homeless Vets In 2018
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) — As Veterans Day approaches, help for disabled and formerly homeless veterans in our area is about to get a big boost.
Veterans Village at Mather Air Park in Rancho Cordova provides permanent homes for veterans. Next year it is set to triple in size.
Army veteran Robert St. Clair will be spending Veterans Day at home in the Mather Veterans Village.
"Here it is, first day when I move in, it's real," St. Clair said.
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After living on the streets and battling addiction St. Clair has now lived at the Veterans Village for a year.
"They give us one beautiful bedroom, per veteran," St. Clair said.
This village is located just blocks from the Mather Air Field.
"You put Mather Veterans Village, on the old air base," St. Clair said. "Couldn't have been a smarter move. I don't know who thought of it."
This Veterans Village has 50 permanent apartments on site now.
Next year new construction will add 60 new transitional housing beds and another 50 permanent apartments, tripling the current size.
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"We personally are grateful for what we got and we're waiting for them to finish this so the other folks can come in," St. Clair said.
The new transition house will be built from an existing old Mather building.
Homeless vets who live here agree to strict security rules.
All guests must check in with administrators.
It's part of the veterans program to help the formerly homeless like St. Clair get back to the life they hoped to live.
"I was living in and out of dumpsters," St. Clair said.
On this Veterans Day, with active duty over, they're now waging the war on veteran homelessness.
"For me to be able to just be here and talk to people? It's like a miracle," St. Clair said.
Construction of the expansion is set for early 2018.