Homeless Veterans Shelter opens in Wisconsin

Shelter for Homeless Veterans Opens

Posted: 6:21 PM Dec 4, 2007
Last Updated: 11:03 PM Dec 4, 2007
Reporter: Katie Heinz
Email Address: katie.heinz@weau.com




The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs says there nearly 200,000 homeless veterans in the United States at any given time.

Now, a new facility is offering a place western Wisconsin veterans from 23 counties can call home.

State and local leaders - along with dozens of veterans - dedicated a homeless shelter on the campus of the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled in Chippewa Falls Monday.

The new shelter is called Klein Hall.

The facility is taking applications from veterans who need a home.

With many of the amenities of home, this is where homeless veterans from throughout the area can find shelter.

"We offer them food, clothing, shelter," said Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Bureau Director Ken Grant. "We're offering them training and helping them to try and find jobs."

The renovated Old Oak Grove building can hold up to 30 veterans in the transitional housing program and 10 in long-term supported housing.

It's one of four shelters in the state, allowing veterans to stay up to two years.

"There is a need in the state for homeless veterans and veterans at risk for homelessness," Grant said.

In fact, the Department of Veterans Affairs has already received 11 applications from veterans, and three will move in next week.

"So many veterans come back and they have difficulty adjusting because it's a different way of life," said Rick Coffin, who served in the U.S. Navy for 22 years. "It's a different focus, and trying to get back into the mainstream society is difficult. Everyone has a different way of handling it."