Housing for Veterans Highlights Redevelopment of Walter Reed Campus

A new 77-unit housing community is one of the cornerstones in the redevelopment of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in Washington, D.C.

For more than a century the center cared for wounded soldiers and other veterans before closing in 2011. The expansive site is being reimagined with new senior and high-end housing, a charter school, and other uses, but none is more fitting than the HELP USA Walter Reed Veteran Apartments.

Developed by nonprofit HELP USA, the apartments provide needed housing and supportive services to formerly homeless veterans. It’s one of the largest veterans-focused developments on the East Coast, occupying about one-third of Abrams Hall, a massive building that once provided convalescent care for soldiers.

“It’s an important project in ending veteran homelessness in the capital,” says David Cleghorn, chief housing officer at HELP USA.

Seventy-five units serve residents earning no more than 30% of the area median income (AMI), and two serve vets up to 50% of the AMI. Case managers help the vets move successfully from homelessness to apartments by providing ongoing, wraparound services.

HELP USA made a strategic decision to not seek Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers as part of its funding. The program requires participants to have been honorably discharged, and the development team wanted to meet the needs of the most vulnerable veterans regardless of their discharge status. Instead of VASH, the District is assisting with rent subsidies and services.

To finance the $19 million project, the nonprofit utilized low-income housing tax credits as well as raised a significant amount from private foundations.