Sadowski Funds Serve Those Who Served Our Country

No Floridian who served our country should be without an affordable, high-quality place to call home. Unfortunately, many of Florida’s low- and moderate-income veterans struggle to find housing or to keep their homes in good repair.

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Post-9/11 veterans are more likely to be unemployed than veterans from earlier conflicts. In Florida, 11% of veterans aged 18 to 34 years are unemployed (United Way of FL ALICE Report).

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50% of Florida’s veterans are 65 years or older (United Way of FL ALICE Report). As these veterans age and retire, they are more likely to have trouble paying for property taxes, home repairs, and accessibility retrofits.

Florida had 4,552 homeless veterans on a single night in 2014—the highest homeless veteran population in any state (HUD Point-in-Time Count data).

Helping Veterans Find Housing Solutions

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) fund several programs helping struggling veterans to buy or rent homes.  However, these funds do not meet, nor were they designed to meet, the housing needs of all veterans.  It takes broad-based community partnerships of public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders to match veterans in need with quality affordable housing.

Montfort Point Marine Home Repaired Allowing Him to Remain in His Home

Mr. William C. Scott of St. Petersburg was 87 years old and a veteran of the Montford Point Marines, the first African-American unit of the Marine Corps.  SHIP was the keystone of a community-wide partnership that renovated this hero’s house, with a new roof, mold remediation, and restored electric and plumbing facilities. Learn more about Mr. William Scott in this video.

SAIL Develop the Cabins for Homeless Veterans with Special Needs

Volunteers of America of Florida (VOAF) used SAIL funds to develop the Cabins in the Woods in Lake City, which provide transitional and permanent housing to homeless veterans with special needs.

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