WOOD COUNTY, Ohio — A new set of free tiny homes is to be built in Lake Township for veterans.
Mike Hossler, T Thomas Properties LLC's vice president of business development, said the goal of building these homes is to provide a temporary solution for veterans in the area who need help with housing.
"Homeless vets should never happen," he said. "If you have one homeless vet, that's one too many."
The non-profit project will consist of 20 new, fully furnished, single-bed tiny homes on Bailey Road in Lake Township.
While Hossler's team will build the 12-foot-by-20-foot homes, leaders with the Veterans Administration will be the ones to place veterans into the homes.
"The whole idea is to get them off the street, get them out of the parks, get them out of their cars and give them a stable, safe place to live," Hossler said.
While this all may seem like a great plan, Lucas County Veteran Services Deputy Director Shawn Clark said one of the first hurdles in addressing homeless veterans is getting them to admit they need help.
"As a veteran, we don't ask for help," Clark said. "I mean I can tell you firsthand I spent the first 10 years after I got out of the army not connecting with the VA duty not because I was trained to do it and you know you got this and sometimes you don't."
This is a point that LCVS Director Charles Heiser also mentioned.
"Veterans do deal with a lot more trauma, mental health issues, more restricted constraints," Heiser said. The ability as you go through training to learn to depend upon yourself and your core group, that makes it more difficult sometimes to get up and ask for help."
In Lucas County, 230 veterans received housing assistance through the Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board in 2023.
Hossler said as this project is the first of many T Thomas Properties plans to build, he hopes the company will be a valuable resource for organizations assisting with housing for veterans. He said construction on the project is expected to start in June of next year.