From the Yakima Herald:
In 2016, when interested parties first floated the idea of a veterans housing project at the old Marine Corps Reserve armory in Yakima, they knew it would take years. But they also were confident that time and toil spent on the project would pay off. Veterans were worth the effort.
“Those are the folks who gave us our freedoms; it’s incumbent upon us to serve them and to give back to them, and this is a way for us to do that,” Lowel Krueger, Yakima Housing Authority executive director, said in July 2016 as the authority was laying out its vision for safe, affordable housing for the area’s homeless and low-income veterans.
So they followed through and stayed the course.
Today, Chuck Austin Place stands as a testament to that vision, as well as a salute to perseverance, cooperation and a deep appreciation for those who have served the nation and who deserve our support. The one-stop center is on schedule to see its first residents in July. When completed, the $17 million center will include 41 housing units; a center for medical, dental and behavioral health and other support services; and open space within a lot measuring roughly 4.6 acres at the corner of Tahoma and South 16th avenues.
“Everything seems to be on time and on budget at this point,” Krueger said recently. “We’re clicking along pretty good.”
Read the Yakima Herald editorial board's op-ed "Center for veterans is worth all the time and effort," featuring the Yakima Housing Authority.