SEBASTIAN — With the war in Iraq over and the war in Afghanistan winding down, thousands of American troops are coming back to the country without jobs and without homes.
How many could return to Indian River County – and specifically, Sebastian – remains to be seen but officials in the city want to be prepared.
The Sebastian Veterans Advisory Board is exploring ways to find homes for veterans returning from war and for those who are currently homeless, seeking shelter in wooded areas and elsewhere.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10210 Commander Jerry Piper estimates that there are more than a half-dozen homeless veterans who currently live near the Sebastian Inlet.
Countywide, that number could be in the neighborhood of 40 to 50, according to Victor Diaz, a member of the county’s Vietnam Veterans of America chapter.
Currently, local veterans’ groups will accept blankets and personal hygiene items to deliver to the homeless veterans, but they want to do more.
Establishing a transition house for homeless veterans could go a long way to combat the issue, he said.
To that end, the Sebastian Veterans Advisory Board has scouted out potential sites in the city to establish a temporary housing facility. However, just one property seems to fit the bill –the former Victorian Lady Florist and Tea Room, located on Louisiana Avenue, behind Sebastian United Methodist Church.
“It’s an ideal location for what we’re looking for,” Veterans of Foreign Wars member Tom Nagle told his fellow board members during a recent meeting.
He pointed to the number of churches nearby and the lack of bars in the area.
The 1-acre property is flanked by three churches, including First Presbyterian Church and Church of Christ, and the railroad tracks.
Whether the property is available for purchase remains unknown as attempts to reach the owner, Cindy Falco-Di Corrado, were unsuccessful.
Once a Sebastian resident, she has moved out of the area. Her Facebook page places her in the St. Augustine area, though her LinkedIn page places her in Sarasota.
The three-bedroom, two-bath house is currently vacant and is in disrepair, according to U.S. Navy veteran and First Presbyterian Elder John Blaga, who walked the interior in 2008 when the property was on the market.
“It’s a fire trap,” Blaga said, adding that it would take an “astronomical” amount of money to fix it up to be suitable for habitation once again.
At the time, Falco-Di Corrado was asking $395,000. First Presbyterian Church offered $125,000 with the thought to convert the historic house – built in the early 1900s – into a thrift shop to support the church’s operations.
“We were way off base,” Blaga said of Falco-Di Corrado’s response to the church’s offer.
Finding a suitable location for a homeless veterans center is the first hurdle and can often be the most challenging one, according to Floyd Merckle, who helped establish just such a facility in the Melbourne area in the early 1990s.
Twenty years later, the facility is still helping to rehabilitate veterans of past wars and is beginning to see a new wave of young veterans coming home from the Middle East.
When his organization got started, they found an old motel set up as small cottages and a landlord willing to work with them. The motel worked well as it was already established in the community as a temporary housing facility and compatible with the surrounding area.
Later, when US 1 was widened and required the relocation of the facility, the organization found a small apartment complex to move into.
“It’s not something to be undertaken lightly,” Merckle said of establishing a transition house for veterans.
Aside from finding a site, funding and goals are the other major issues to nail down, according to Merckle.
Would Sebastian’s facility merely house veterans for a period of time or would there be rehabilitation or job training on site? Could any veteran turn up at the facility or just those just returning from the Middle East? Would veterans’ families find assistance there, or just veterans themselves?
Each question remains under discussion with the Veterans Advisory Board, though Cmdr. Piper, the board chair, has said during meetings that he would like the facility to offer assistance in finding jobs – though that could be later after the facility were established.
The lack of jobs is the underlying cause of most homelessness amongst veterans, according to retired U.S. Air Force Col. Marty Zickert, president of the Indian River County Veterans Council.
“They become homeless quickly when the paycheck runs out,” Zickert said, explaining that many of the veterans returning from the Middle East will not find jobs at their base and will no longer be in the country’s employ. “Without employment, everything falls around you.”
Without a job, many veterans cannot secure home loans or other housing assistance. Zickert pointed to one Air Force veteran who spent 14 years in the military and has three young children.
They currently live in a weekly rental motel in Sebastian. The veteran has been approved for a VA loan, but can’t actually get it because he doesn’t have a job – no income to pay back the loan, according to Zickert.
The Air Force veteran’s story is common to homecoming veterans, Zickert said.
Zickert applauds the Sebastian Veterans Advisory Board’s exploration into helping alleviate the homeless issue, but noted that neither representatives from the Sebastian VFW or American Legion have raised the topic at any of the county Veterans Council meetings – of which they are members.
Regardless, Zickert said the council would support the Sebastian board in whatever way it can.
The council, itself, is doing what it can to address the homeless veterans issue, providing temporary housing to single veterans in two homes it operates, according to council member Victor Diaz, a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America.
Those homes, located near 9th Avenue and State Road 60, have had 20 to 30 veterans go through. Another eight are lined up to move into the homes and eight others have found temporary housing elsewhere.
Other homeless groups take in veterans, just as they would take in any other homeless person. For the Veterans Council’s purpose, though, having a transition house or shelter dedicated to veterans would help address challenges unique to veterans.
Such challenges include locating and filing appropriate paperwork to receive benefits, addressing their mental and physical health, and providing support that only those who have served in the military might be able to give.
It’s the kind of help the Melbourne facility provides to Brevard County’s homeless veterans and the type of assistance Sebastian’s transition house could give if that is the direction the Veterans Advisory Board takes.
And if the former Victorian Lady property were indeed available and fixed up to serve as a transition house in Sebastian, the site is not expected to draw opposition from either Sebastian United Methodist Church or First Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Richard Jones, of Sebastian United Methodist Church, the spouse of an Army Reserve chaplain, said his church would support rehabilitating the Victorian Lady for a homeless veterans facility.
“Helping veterans is something very close to our hearts,” he said, adding that he believes the site would be compatible with the surrounding area.
While Rev. Jones supports using the Victorian Lady as a facility, Elder John Blaga of First Presbyterian, raised concerns about accessibility given the number of stairs veterans would have to navigate. He said the stairs he remembered in the house were steep and could be difficult to navigate if a veteran were to be physically challenged.
Aside from accessibility and the cost to rehabilitate the site, Blaga said his church could be expected to support the facility.
“Their plight is absolutely tear-jerking,” Blaga said of homeless veterans. “We’re not going to say ‘no.’”
