St. Cloud VA Health care
System announcement

Groundbreaking Announced

Groundbreaking for Veterans Housing Community Announced

In support of VA’s goal of ending Veteran homelessness, a groundbreaking ceremony for an affordable, permanent supportive housing community with priority placement for homeless or at risk of homelessness Veterans and their families is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 28, at Bldg. 8 (Auditorium), on the St. Cloud VA Medical Center campus, located at 4801 Veterans Drive, in St. Cloud.

The ceremony is open to the public. Veterans, their families and members of the community are encouraged to attend.

The new community will offer permanent, supportive housing for thirty-five single individuals and up to two families in a new building adjacent to the St. Cloud VA Medical Center. Veterans will have priority placement at the community and the goal is for 100 percent of the occupants to be Veterans. 

“We are very excited about this community,” said St. Cloud VA Director Barry I. Bahl.

“The need we see today is for Veterans about to be homeless or getting out of a chemical dependency program and this community can provide them a permanent housing opportunity,” he added.

Overall, it is the goal of the project to assist Veterans to achieve greater social and economic independence through stable housing and comprehensive support services.

The target households for the community are homeless Veterans and Veterans at risk of homelessness. It will be available to single adults and be drug and alcohol free. It will offer on-site referral support for a broad spectrum of services, including job search assistance, literacy and computer skills training, while providing Veterans close proximity to health care services. This approach will grant the resident Veterans access to a wide variety of programs, specialties and disciplines in the community in which they live.

The housing community is a public-private partnership between VA and the lead developer, Sand Companies, Inc., of Waite Park, Minnesota, using VA’s Enhanced Use Lease program. 

Sand Companies, Inc. is an experienced affordable and supportive housing developer and manager. Sand Companies has successfully completed the development of twenty-seven affordable housing communities including four supportive housing projects. Sand Companies currently manages thirty-three properties and contracts with experienced service providers for supportive services.

Affordable Housing Initiatives of Waite Park, Minnesota, is a non-profit organization who is the managing general partner for the community. Affordable Housing Initiatives has a mission to develop new affordable housing along with the preservation of existing affordable housing. It’s involvement in projects includes procuring supportive services, assisting with project funding for capital and services and the development and implementation of resident programs.