St. Vincent de Paul expanding efforts to house homeless veterans in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- St. Vincent de Paul plans to add 24 more rooms for veterans who are homeless, at risk of homelessness or have previously been homeless.

Crews are finishing up renovations to the living space at a building on the St. Vincent de Paul Shelby Park campus. The new private rooms at the nonprofit's campus in the Shelby Park neighborhood will include self-service kitchens, laundry facilities and common spaces, the Louisville nonprofit said.

"It's this or the streets, quite often," said Sam Schreir, program manager at St. Vincent de Paul in Louisville.

For two decades, St. Vincent de Paul has helped provide shelter for veterans through emergency and transitional housing. However, the new space is creating two dozen opportunities for affordable, permanent housing.

"We need more housing in the city, and this is a great opportunity — for veterans, specifically — to find a place that has the amenities they need and the support," Schreier said.

Louisville leaders said the city is short around 30,000 affordable housing units and they believe projects like this help make a difference.

"We want to see affordable housing throughout every district in this city to address that gap," said Metro Councilman Phillip Baker, who represents District 6. "Yes, we're working overtime, but it's programs like this that can be a model that we can continue to copy."

The facility will likely be done in a few weeks.

"To have a place they can have to finally set their feet down and work forward from, I think it's extremely important and critical," Schreier said.

If you'd like to donate to help St. Vincent de Paul support homeless veterans, click here.