Land off of St. Anthony Drive in Green Bay could be the home of Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin's Veterans Village, December 18, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It takes a village to make a village.
A plan to build an affordable housing development for veterans in Brown County will go in front of the full county board this week.
The board will vote Wednesday whether to approve donating 3.5 acres of land just off St. Anthony Drive in Green Bay to Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin.
The veterans village plan will not only provide housing, but nearly two dozen agencies will offer their services that will help veterans in other aspects, like mental health and employment opportunities.
Gail Nohr, the founder and program manager and director of Veterans 1st says the need for this tiny village is great and it will offer a safe space of community for veterans to begin their journey of recovery.
“Last year when I tried to figure out how many homeless veterans there were, I ended up going to all the shelters and finding out there was about 81 homeless veterans and about 1,000 that need affordable housing right now. Even one is too many; and the VA also states that housing insecurity and homelessness increases the risk of suicide among veterans. I found out that there was 31 suicides of veterans in Northeast Wisconsin last year and a lot of that is connected to housing, homelessness, housing insecurity; we need to address that,” she said.
If the board approves it, the first seven homes should be complete by October 2024 and another seven will be done by 2025.
Brown County executive Troy Streckenbach says there’s enough land to build additional houses if need be in the future.
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