New Castle County Council approves a $200 thousand contract for transitional housing.
About 33 thousand veterans nationwide were experiencing homelessness in January 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They make up about 5% of unhoused adults in the U.S. And HUD estimates about 89 Delaware vets are unhoused.
But all of these numbers are likely conservative because of methodological limitations that come with tracking down unhoused people.
New Castle County entered a contract with Veteran Services CEO Joseph M. Walls, supporting an effort to create affordable transitional housing for veterans and unhoused people locally.
Walls is working on a housing project in Bear and says support from the county is greatly appreciated.
“This is very personal to me. I have two grandsons that just went into the military back in the summer, and it's really great that we will have additional housing available to veterans as they come out of shelters and out of service,” Walls said.
The county’s Department of Community Services Division general manager Carrie Casey signed off on the funding justification form. It said New Castle County would further the affordable housing crisis if it didn’t assist with Veterans Services’ housing project in Bear.
“[It’s] needed to assist in providing access to new affordable transitional housing for veterans and homeless individuals,” the form read.
CEO Joseph M. Walls attended last week’s Council meeting where the resolution unanimously passed.
“It's a great thing that you are doing on behalf of veterans,” Walls said. “This will be dedicated to housing veterans as they come out of shelters. We want to thank you – myself, the veteran – community, because this is a great step forward.”
Walls added he and his team have done a lot of outreach in the community and are excited to see the project come to fruition with the county’s support.
