Fighting to support our needy veterans
One of the reasons I am opposed to our state’s migrant housing policies is that we are not doing enough to take care of needy United States citizens right here in the 5th Barnstable District. I am personally aware of people who live in tents at local campgrounds during the summer because they have nowhere else to live. And, I have been personally involved in trying to find alternative housing options for needy veterans at Liberty Lodge in Sandwich.
Liberty Lodge is a housing facility for needy veterans that ran into some issues this year. Veterans living there needed immediate help trying to identify a new place to live – but there were few, if any, options available to them.
As a military family and Gold Star Father, and as a member of our Legislature’s Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, I take the wellbeing of veterans within the 5th Barnstable District very seriously. I therefore made it a mission to make sure these veterans get all the services they need in a timely and productive fashion.
Per my request and with my assistance, officials from the United States Veterans Affairs, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services, Cape Cod Veterans Services, the Cape & Islands Veterans Outreach Center, and the Housing Assistance Corporation came together to identify alternative housing for these veterans. We were able to stabilize the situation such that no veterans would be displaced from their housing, and so that all were able to find new housing options elsewhere that were suitable to them.