BILLINGS — Billings is home to more than 8,000 veterans, but for some, finding an affordable place to live isn't easy. Now, a new development is being built with those veterans in mind.
CR Builders LLC, a Billings construction company, took the idea straight to the Billings City Council, proposing 24 affordable units specifically for veterans.
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The company's own market study estimates Billings is already short nearly 3,750 low-income units, including 359 for veterans.
The roughly $8.9 million project is funded largely through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, and its location is no accident on the West End.
"It's about a 1.7-acre site that's located right next to the Billings Veterans Administration Clinic," Don Sterhan said.
The distance from the Veterans Affairs Clinic to the new development is just steps away.
Nicolas Weitman doesn't need numbers to understand the problem. He's lived it.
"I myself have been homeless twice," Weitman said.
A Coast Guard veteran, Weitman knows how quickly stable housing can slip away, and how hard it can be to find again.
"I feel like it's a need that doesn't necessarily go away because you'll have some people that eventually hit a point," Weitman said.
Sterhan, the company president, says the goal goes beyond putting a roof over someone's head. It's about building a community around the people living there.
"We're trying to provide not only a good, safe, quality environment for the veterans, but we're trying to provide a platform for services," Sterhan said.
"It's designed to provide that fabric so that they have camaraderie and goodwill and social interaction," Sterhan said.
Billings is already being forced to take a hard look at where thousands of new homes can go over the next two decades.
"We found that there was a huge need for it. We haven't done much for veterans in terms of affordable housing. We haven't made that commitment of resources," Sterhan said.
Some support will come even closer, right inside the development.
"Case management, coordination of programs, technical assistance and financial training will bring those types of benefits in-house into the facility itself," Sterhan said.
For Weitman, more housing means more veterans have somewhere to turn.
"I mean, the more stuff like this we can get is amazing because then we can kind of help more veterans get taken care of," Weitman said.
