Six years ago Will Hatley was homeless, struggling with substance abuse and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from his years in the Navy and a childhood marred by a tornado that killed his mother and baby sister.
Hatley overcame those obstacles with the help of the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, where he now works as a veteran peer specialist.
“When I came to the VA Bedford, I had a lot of baggage,” Hatley said. “I had bad credit, I didn’t have a job, I was suicidal. That’s why as a vocational rehab counselor I strive to take away these obstacles, these barriers, these hurdles, these roadblocks.”
For many veterans, one of those roadblocks is a lack of supportive, affordable housing.
On Monday, Hatley helped celebrate the groundbreaking at the Bedford VA hospital of a new housing complex featuring 70 affordable units for veterans.
The new residences will give priority to veterans age 55 and older, making it the first of its kind in the country.
It is expected to open in spring 2016, on a 4-acre parcel on the campus of the Bedford VA hospital.
Hospital Director Christine Croteau said the new facility would help fill a need in the community.
“This today is a great example of how partners in the community, private and federal and state partners, can come together to truly make sure our veterans want for nothing,” Croteau said.
Affordable veterans housing in Massachusetts has become more of a priority in recent years.
According to Roger Herzog, of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, since 2012 Massachusetts has opened more than 1,500 units of permanent supportive housing serving some of the state’s most vulnerable populations, suffering from medical and mental disabilities and addictions. Of those 1,500 units, more than 425 were targeted toward veterans.
Earlier this month, the Varnum School in Lowell’s Centralville neighborhood was transformed from classroom space into 21 affordable units for veterans.
When Bedford Green opens, senior veterans will have the benefit of not just housing, but the full support of facilities at the hospital, just steps away.
But affordable housing isn’t the only area where the Bedford VA is seen as a leader.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, himself a veteran of the U.S. Marines who served four tours in Iraq, said that Bedford was paving the way on issues like treating pain without an over-reliance on addictive opiates, prescribing just one-third the national average of opiate-based medications.
Housing and health care are examples of how the country should be taking care of the newest generation of veterans, the Salem Democrat said. Investing in the best care for veterans, he said, is “more than just a moral obligation, it’s a smart investment in America’s future.”
By supporting veterans, the VA would be helping to encourage future leaders, like those who were previously hailed as members of the Greatest Generation.
“It had as much to do with what the Greatest Generation did here at home, as what they did overseas,” Moulton said. “I believe the same can be said about the next generation of veterans, the generation coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan and for generations yet to come. But we’ve got to take care of them when they come back.”
Michael Mayo-Smith, network director for the VA New England Healthcare System, said that just as the VA had been a leader on universal health care, it could also pave the way for making sure all people are given access to affordable housing.
“We don’t think anybody who served their country should go without permanent housing, just like they don’t go without health care,” Mayo-Smith said.