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Contact:
Jordan Stoick, U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, 202-225-2711;
Jordan.stoick@mail.house.gov
Julie Alston, co-CEO, Roark-Sullivan Lifeway Center, 304-881-3763
Alex Alston, co-CEO, Roark-Sullivan Lifeway Center, 304-881-2980
Neil Cotiaux, FHLBank: 412-288-2851; Neil.cotiaux@fhlb-pgh.com

Congresswoman Capito announces downtown service center for veterans:
Shelter, counseling, other services to be offered in new two-story building; FHLBank, VA grants set the stage for June groundbreaking

CHARLESTON, WV, April 11, 2007 - U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (WV-2) announced today that ground will be broken in mid-June for a new two-story social services center for homeless veterans.

Speaking at the Roark-Sullivan Lifeway Center on Leon Sullivan Way, Congresswoman Capito announced that a total of $650,000 in funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has set the stage for groundbreaking on the transitional housing and service center, to be built in the side yard of Roark-Sullivan. Potential clients for the new center are already being identified.

The new center is being developed to support the growing needs of homeless veterans who enter the Giltinan Center, part of Roark-Sullivan’s operations at 505 Leon Sullivan Way. The 60-bed facility for adult males is filled to capacity at all times, with veterans comprising 30 percent of its occupants. Last year alone, more than 1,200 individuals entered Giltinan.

The new two-story structure will accommodate veterans with disabilities on the first floor. Twelve housing units to be constructed as part of the new project and 15 rehabilitated units at Giltinan will provide extended shelter while veterans receive a variety of counseling and social services for physical, mental or emotional problems. Veterans not residing on the Roark-Sullivan campus but in need of social services may also utilize the new center.

“The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that approximately 195,000 veterans are homeless on any given night in this country,” Congresswoman Capito remarked. “And they tell us there is a shortfall of 9,600 transitional beds for homeless vets. Further, more than 1,000 vets who have served in Afghanistan or Iraq have been identified as being at risk of homelessness. This is simply inexcusable. The project we announce today shows that we in West Virginia can help solve this chronic problem,” Capito said.

According to Julie Alston, co-CEO of Roark-Sullivan Lifeway, the comprehensive veterans’ center being developed will extend a wide range of services including case management, transportation, health care services onsite and through referral to the VA and other providers, behavioral health services including pre-recovery groups, and assistance in obtaining permanent housing once veterans are ready to leave temporary shelter. In addition, community-based support will be offered to help veterans maintain permanent housing and become self-sufficient.

Alex Alston, co-CEO of the 26-year-old program, said he expects the new two-story facility as well as interior renovations at Giltinan to be completed by January 2008, when veterans will begin taking up residence. Social services will become available the following month.

The $250,000 FHLBank grant announced today will be delivered by United Bank. An approximately $400,000 grant from VA was announced earlier. The FHLBank grant was one of ten grants totaling more than $1.5 million presented by Congresswoman Capito to representatives of affordable housing organizations gathered at Roark-Sullivan. Other FHLBank grants include:

• $100,000 for Coalfield Housing, a project of the Southern Appalachian Labor School, to rehab twelve dilapidated and energy-inefficient homes in Fayette County. Two will accommodate the physically handicapped, one, frail elderly. At-risk high school students and recovering youth offenders will participate in the construction project. The FHLBank grant will be delivered by United Bank.
• $500,000 for Mountain Neighborhoods, a new development in Grant County consisting of 24 rental units near an existing industrial and new technology park. Five units will serve very-low-income individuals, 19 units, moderate-income. In addition, five units will be reserved for the handicapped or disabled. The Grant County Housing Authority is the sponsor, with the grant delivered by Pendleton Community Bank.
• $120,000 for New River Housing, a project sponsored by the Southern Appalachian Labor School, in Kincaid. New River Housing will rehab eight dilapidated and energy-inefficient homes. Four will serve first-time homebuyers, two the physically handicapped, and two, the victims of black lung and related diseases. United Bank will deliver the grant.
• $220,000 for North Bend Apartments, Ritchie County’s first major affordable housing project in more than 20 years. North Bend Apartments will consist of 38 rental units in a garden-style, multi-family townhouse in Harrisville close to shopping, schools and medical facilities. The project will contain one-, two- and three-bedroom units featuring ENERGY STAR®-rated appliances, with eight units reserved for the physically handicapped. Eight individuals have already moved into North Bend Apartments and the complex is expected to be fully occupied by August. Project sponsors are Pison Development and Community Affordable Housing Equity Corporation. The grant will be delivered by United Bank. Ritchie County was named a Blueprint Community by Gov. Joe Manchin and FHLBank at a ceremony at the State Capitol on March 12.
• $99,781 for The Opportunity House Transitional Living Home in Buckhannon. The Opportunity House is dedicated to the long-term transitional needs of the homeless and very-low-income individuals suffering from drug or alcohol addiction. Residents will be drawn from the streets, shelters, correctional facilities and treatment centers, with eleven housing units available in all. Residents will receive individualized counseling, help in developing employment skills, access to medical care, training in basic money management, parenting skills and other life improvement assistance. Sponsor: The Opportunity Housing Transitional Living Home. Bank: First Central Bank.
• $40,000 for the Rural Homeownership Project in Norton, which will construct four three-bedroom homes for first-time homebuyers with very-low- to moderate incomes. Sponsor: Woodlands Development Group. Bank: Mountain Valley Bank.
• $185,000 for SARA, Inc. Home Repair and Rehabilitation, to repair 48 owner-occupied homes in Greenbrier County. Four units will serve frail elderly and four others, individuals with mental disabilities. Sponsor: Southeastern Appalachian Rural Alliance. Bank: First National Bank of Ronceverte.
• $50,000 for SHED Homeownership for ten homes on scattered sites in McDowell and Wyoming counties, including Mullens. Both McDowell and Mullens were named West Virginia Blueprint Communities last month. FHLBank’s grants will provide up to $5,000 per homeowner to cover acquisition, construction, rehabilitation or downpayment costs. Nine homes will be three-bedroom units while two will accommodate the physically handicapped. The project sponsor is SAFE Housing and Economic Development (SHED), an affiliate of Stop Abusive Family Environments. Pioneer Community Bank will deliver the grant. SAFE has already completed 33 homes as part of its mission, some involving prior FHLBank grant money.
• $75,000 for South Fork Crossing Phase I in the Brandywine/Sugar Grove area of Pendleton County. Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity is constructing five single-family homes on the site of a former trailer park. Four homes will serve very-low- to moderate-income first-time homebuyers, one the homeless and one other, the physically handicapped. Bank: Pendleton Community Bank.

“The affordable housing grants we announce today represent projects that will bring value to each of their neighborhoods and help set the stage for further progress in overall community revitalization,” said Patrick Bond, general partner at Mountaineer Capital in Charleston and a member of FHLBank’s Affordable Housing Advisory Council. “They offer family stability, needed onsite social services and a better quality of life to all those who will occupy these residences. Taken as a whole, they represent another big step forward for Charleston and all of West Virginia.”

Created by Congress in 1932, FHLBank Pittsburgh currently serves the needs of 334 member-owner financial institutions in Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It provides them with a steady stream of liquidity in all economic cycles for homeownership as well as community and economic development. FHLBank is wholly funded with private capital, not taxpayer dollars.