Source: Burlington Free Press, Jan 11, by Matt Sutkoski
Photo Source: GLENN RUSSELL, Free Press
“WINOOSKI — Two years in the making, transitional housing for homeless veterans officially opened Monday on Canal Street. Though veterans won’t start moving in until next week, the Committee on Temporary Shelter and Housing Vermont held a ribbon cutting in the five-story building to mark the end of construction. The two organizations formed a partnership to establish the housing. “We are so quick to support our troops as they march off to war, but we are slow to honor their service when they return as veterans,” COTS Executive Director Rita Markley said. She said the housing is a way to honor veterans. The five story, 25,840-square-foot building has 16 apartments for use as transitional housing for formerly homeless veterans. It also has 12 long term rental units that are open to anybody, but veterans will be given preferential treatment for those units. The project is a partnership between COTS and Housing Vermont. It cost $5.8 million from a variety of funding sources to design and build. About 100 people gathered in a ground floor community room in the building, most wearing blue plastic booties over their shoes to avoid tracking snow and salt onto newly installed floors. The crowd represented an alphabet soup collection of nonprofit groups, government agencies, banks, advocacy organizations, veterans and architects that made the housing project possible…” Full Story: Veterans Housing Opens in Winooski. PDF of Story: Veterans Housing Opens in Winooski.