Iraq veteran and family lost home with layoff

New office opens to help veterans find homes
Post Independent
Sharon Sullivan
October 18, 2013

U.S. Army veteran Lydia Nelson and her husband, Mike Nelson, also a military veteran, fell on hard times after Mike was laid off from his contractor job at Buckley Air Force base in Denver. Lydia had just given birth to their second son.

They walked away from their condominium, filed bankruptcy and went to live in Colorado Springs in a house they were fixing up in lieu of paying rent. After the entire family became seriously ill, they ordered a home inspection that found mold throughout the home. Desperate and sick, the family fled to Grand Junction where Lydia’s parents live.

At first the family camped out in her parents’ living room; their belongings piled on the back porch.

Then the Nelsons learned about Homes for All Veterans, a program started in 2011 by the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Human Services, with a grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Based in Denver, Rocky Mountain Human Services is expanding its presence on the Western Slope and is hosting an open house at its new Grand Junction office 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, at the Center for Independence, 740 Gunnison Ave.

The Nelsons applied and qualified for the housing program which paid their deposit plus first and last months’ rent on an apartment on 25 1/2 Road.

“We needed a good, safe place to live, where we could give our kids a bath, cook a meal,” said Lydia Nelson, who served two tours in Iraq.
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