This week, volunteers in St. Louis spent a day helping build the roof of a tiny home for Veterans Community Project.
VCP was co-founded by REALTOR® Mark Solomon who, along with three fellow military veterans, envisioned a village of tiny homes to become a place of healing and dignity for formerly homeless veterans.
The first village broke ground in Kansas City, Mo., in 2017, and in less than 10 years, there are now VCP tiny home villages complete or under way in six more cities. Solomon, a Navy combat veteran, won a NAR Good Neighbor Award in 2019.
Thanks to support from St. Louis REALTORS®, VCP St. Louis is one step closer to welcoming more veterans into the stability of a home. The St. Louis REALTORS® Housing Assistance Fund makes annual monetary grants, and the association’s members have volunteered labor on build days since the 2021 groundbreaking.
Once complete, the village will include 50 fully furnished 240-square-foot houses, alongside a 3,000-square-foot community center with a kitchen, wellness spaces and classrooms. An on-site outreach center already provides veterans with access to emergency aid, food and help with applying for military benefits.
Solomon appreciates the support tremendous support that REALTOR® members have given to this effort to take care of people who sacrificed to protect their country.
“VCP has the word ‘community’ in the middle for a reason. We couldn’t do what we do for unhoused veterans without the support of the community,” says Solomon.
“REALTORS® have championed our mission from its inception. To have members of St. Louis REALTORS® volunteer to help VCP build homes perfectly highlights their deep commitment to the community and to those men and women who have served.”
