Home of the Brave seeks to consolidate veteran housing

Home of the Brave Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers transitional housing for homeless veterans, wants to relocate its facilities for women veterans to a five-acre tract off Route 1 near Milford, to a tract where it has offered services to male veterans for 20 years.

Two years ago, in August 2013, Home of the Brave purchased a house near Milford, planning to open it as transitional housing for homeless women veterans.

That effort ran into public opposition and was withdrawn; the organization instead leased space in a downtown Milford building where it began serving women veterans and their children in need of transitional housing.

Now the group is seeking approval to build and run transitional housing for women at the same site as its facility for men. To help the residents get back on their feet, staff also provides counseling, employment assistance, food, training, access to healthcare and assistance with transportation. The facility is under 24-hour supervision.

Though the organization has taken a roundabout path to get to this point, it makes sense to locate both facilities on a single property where it is not likely to raise objections. Having facilities for both men and women in one place should provide easier access to the care, counseling and community services that are a critical part of helping returning veterans build stable, productive lifestyles.

The new facility may eventually offer a pair of two-story, four-bedroom buildings, each one large enough to house eight residents. But officials plan to start with one building, with the second to be added as financing permits.

Returning from war to civilian life has never been an easy task; in many ways the journey has been especially difficult for recent veterans, including women, many of whom went to war young and served several tours before their final discharge.

These veterans deserve help to transition to civilian life delivered in a simple, streamlined way. Consolidating many services in one place appears to be a step in the right direction, which Sussex County Council should support by approving the foundation’s conditional-use request.