Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 131: Gavin Naples, SVP of Homeless Veteran Programs, Tunnel to Towers Foundation

Transcript

Episode 131: Gavin Naples, SVP of Homeless Veteran Programs, Tunnel to Towers Foundation · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is change Makers with Katie Gore finding the right
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: solutions for the affordable housing community.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Our change maker this week is Gavin Naples. Gavin is
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: a senior vice President of the Homeless Veterans Program at
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: the Tunnels to Tower Foundation, where he leads nationwide efforts
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: to provide permanent support of a housing for veterans throughout
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: veterans villages and case management services. Drawing on his background
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: as a real estate attorney and licensed broker, Gavin combines
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: his legal expertise with his life experience with a passion
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: to help thousands of veterans and their families find stability
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: and community. Gavin, Welcome to the change Makers podcast.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me Katie. It's a
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: pleasure be here.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: It's an honor to have you here. And we've talked
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: about veterans issues and housing instability for many times. However,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: you guys are going to bring such a unique conclusion
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: here and I think that our listeners are going to
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: be very excited to hear what you guys are doing
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: in the veterans space, the community space, and helping solve
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: this affordability issue. So with that, i'd like to start
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: the segment by first talking about really the roots of
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Tunnels to Towers program because not everybody's familiar. So if
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: we can just start there with your organization, I think
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: that would be helpful for context, and then we can
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: we can talk about more of the programs and the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: success you guys are having. So, Gavin Ded, you mind
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: starting from that first point.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Sure.
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  Speaker 4: So the Tunnels to Towers Foundation began in the wake
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: of the nine to eleven terist attacks on New York City.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: Our namesake, Steven Siller, was a Brooklyn firefighter who was
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: off duty the morning of Setember eleventh. He had just
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: finished his shift on Squad one. He was going to
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: play golf with his three brothers and he heard over
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: his radio that the plane had hit the first tower,
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: and so he called his brothers and said, I'm not
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: going to make the tea time. He turned his car
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: around and he drove it to the base of the
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which connects Lower Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: It was closed to vehicular traffic that day because of,
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: obviously what had occurred. So he got out of his car.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: He put sixty pounds of gear on his back and
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: he ran through the underground tunnel nearly four miles into
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  Speaker 4: the South Tower up the stairs, and his body was
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: never recovered that day. He died saving others. So from
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: that sacrifice, Stephen was an orphan himself at a very
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: early age. He also had five children of his own,
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: and he sacrificed his life for our country. So his
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: brothers and sisters got around his kitchen table and said
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: that we need to honor what he did for our country,
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  Speaker 4: and they started the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: From that kitchen table.
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  Speaker 4: About twenty five years later, we're now a half a
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  Speaker 4: billion dollar a year organization that gives ninety three cents
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  Speaker 4: of every single dollar way to our programs, one of
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: the highest rated charities in the nation for transparency and accountability,
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: and over the last twenty five years, we have provided
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: over two thousand mortgage free homes to catastrophically injured service members,
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: the families who fall and first responders which are police officers, firefighters,
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: and EMT workers that get killed in the line of duty,
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: as well as gold Star widows whose veterans that die
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: and leave behind small children all over the nation. Our
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: newest program, which I had is our Homeless Veteran Program,
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: which seeks to eradicate homelessness amongst veterans nationwide.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about eradicate homeless veterans. The mere fact
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: that we have homeless veterans is breaking. And there are
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: a lot of studies that point to thirty thousand, thirty
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: three thousand on the books, but many people say that
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  Speaker 2: in actuality is about double that. And I know it's
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: hard to break apart the why, but the scope of
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: this seems very daunting that this is even part of
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: the landscape here. What is it that you're seeing is
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: most effective to try to address some of that and
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: and even understand it for people who are not familiar
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: with this that it's happening. I mean, some people don't
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  Speaker 2: even know what's happening technically.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, obviously a very complicated question. So I'm
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: going to give you a little bit of a long answer,
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  Speaker 4: but I will start by saying that the trend is
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  Speaker 4: moving in generally the right direction. In that twenty years ago,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: it was about a quarter million veterans that were experiencing
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: chronic homelessness. The estimates now are around thirty five thousand,
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: thirty eight thousand, forty thousand. The numbers vary, but that
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: is for chronically homeless individuals. So if you're sleeping in
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: your car for four weeks, you're not chronically homeless. If
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: you just got divorced or just lost your apartment, or
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: just got evicted or just got foreclosed upon, you are
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: not chronically homeless. So there are a lot of people
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  Speaker 4: that are actually homeless, a lot of veterans that are
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  Speaker 4: actually homeless that are not captured in that actual number. So, yes,
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  Speaker 4: the numbers of people on the ground, it is actually
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  Speaker 4: much higher. You are correct, But you know, obviously a
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: tall order to eradicate homelessness amongst veterans. But what we've
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: done in a very tight timeframe is basically developed a
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  Speaker 4: three pronged model to address this. The first is our
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: veterans villages. What we are doing is going throughout the
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: nation to the large metro areas where the rates of
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: veteran homelessness are highest, and we are either acquiring dilapidated
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: to hospitality properties, underperforming hotels and nursing homes, things like that,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: and gut renovating them or demolishing them and building long
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: term supportive housing units for veterans at those locations. We
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: also do ground up construction to basically build the same thing,
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  Speaker 4: a campus of long term supportive housing. If you are
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: a veteran that's struggling with homelessness right now, there are
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: places to lay your head, go to a shelter. There's
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: transitional programs, but they're what you'd expect. They're also finite
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: in nature in that they're attached to governmental funding, and
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: if you're in a transitional program, you'll be there for
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: six months or nine months or twelve months. It runs out,
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: you have to go somewhere else. You have to go
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: somewhere else.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: You have to go somewhere else.
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  Speaker 4: So we are positioning ourselves as the long term supportive
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: housing providers in that our veterans that come deliver at
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: our Veterans Village can stay there until the day that die.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: Our objective is to.
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: Have them reintegrate and move in and reconnect with their families,
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: go on to buy homes, go on to you know,
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: furnish their own apartments, and get entrepreneurial career paths. But
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: if it's a veteran's last stop and they need a
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: place of comfort and dignity to live, they can live
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: at our Veterans Village for as long as they want,
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: but it's not enough to just provide the housing. So
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: what we provide at each of our veterans village on
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  Speaker 4: the first floor is a litany of supportive services that
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: are aimed at addressing root causes of veteran homelessness. So
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: twenty four to seven, we have peer support, we have
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: case management, we have entitlement support, we have employment support,
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: we have legal advocates, we have behavioral health support, we
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: have case management, we have a litany of other organizations
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: that come in and assist us outside of those meat
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  Speaker 4: and potatoes functions which I just listed that are provided
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: by Tunnel to Towers employees. So you really have to
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: address those root causes. But we have about twenty projects
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  Speaker 4: right now in active stages of development pre development from
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: Buffalo down to Florida west to California two in Puerto Rico.
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  Speaker 4: We'll build hundreds of veterans villages by the time we're done.
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  Speaker 4: That is really our first approach and our triage approach
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  Speaker 4: to address brick and mortar where the need is greatest.
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  Speaker 4: But outside of these large metros, you have eighty percent
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: of the dark. So the second prime of our program
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  Speaker 4: is our national case management network, and that is anywhere
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: in the nation where a veteran or their family is
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: struggling with homelessness or about to backslide into homelessness, they
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: can call our foundation. We have an internal team of
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: case managers and housing coordinators intake admin employment, entitlements, behavioral
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: health that on board these veterans and their families, We
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: provide them financial assistance immediately to get them housed in
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  Speaker 4: their area. If it's a family of three sleeping in
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: a van in North Dakota, or someone that just got
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: divorced in Florida, or someone who just got evicted in California,
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  Speaker 4: we can get them housing in their area, pay the
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: cost to get them in, allow them to take a
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: deep breath because now they have a roof over their
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  Speaker 4: vend and then we will work with the VA and
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: their coordinated entry point in their area to allow them
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  Speaker 4: to sustain that housing. And then we work with over
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: twelve hundred providers across the nation to provide that case management,
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: that entitlements assistance, that employment assistance. If you need an
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: attorney in North Carolina, or you need a job in California,
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: whatever it is, we work with this interconnected web of
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: organizations that are in the same space of helping veterans,
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: so that we can quarterback all these different cases but
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: have the boots on the ground that can be deployed
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: immediately and actually help. The third prong of our program,
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  Speaker 4: we work directly with hud Vash and a department of
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development
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  Speaker 4: to provide financial assistance for veterans that currently have hud
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: Vash vouchers.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: But need to move in rapidly.
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  Speaker 4: Just in just Shia three years, we provided housing assistants
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  Speaker 4: and access to services to over fifteen thousand veterans and
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  Speaker 4: over eight thousand children. That number is going to grow
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  Speaker 4: exponentially as we grow our case management network because we
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: bring more of our ves teran's villages online and strengthen
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: our relationships state, federally and locally. I could go on
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  Speaker 4: for eight hours. I'm not going to, but that's really
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  Speaker 4: the breakdown of how we're trying to address this. You know,
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  Speaker 4: large problem is again triage the areas of greatest need
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: and then cast a national blanket for any veteran and
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: their family to call us and uveil themselves of our assistance.
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  Speaker 2: I think about the legacy by how you guys got
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: started when you first were describing it, and it's such
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: a traumatic incident for the entire nation and especially for
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: the first responders that you know, you're not really trained
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: for something of that extreme. And then I think about
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: the parallel of the veteran who now could be suffering
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: with you know, tbri I traumatic brain injury or integration,
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: and they're confronted with a different dynamic once they've returned
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: home again, maybe not always trained for that type of
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: an incident. Something that you said allowing them to catch
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: their breath. It seems like it's a moment that would
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: be difficult if all things had been normalized. Right. An eviction,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: a divorce, a job loss, any of those sort of
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: traumatic life experiences that are happening impacts everybody in such
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: an extreme way. But now you have a veteran who
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: may have complicating things from a TBRI or from a
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: life experience or from a training whatever. The details are here,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: and so you're not just providing the house. You're not
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: just providing potentially access to an affordable property for them
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: to live in, but you really are creating this moment
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  Speaker 2: that they may not have been trained for to handle
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: an eviction, to handle this divorce, and to catch their breath.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: So that is how my mind is thinking when I
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: parallel you know, what they're confronted with. But how are
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: you seeing these case management experiences making impact and truly
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: allowing them to catch their breath? Okay, I guess as
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: a long question, but you know, we've got programs, we've
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: got services. Now we have a house, So how does
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: this look now when they can catch their breath?
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: Sure, it really is a case by case basis, and
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: it's so much and it's so comprehensive that it's overwhelmed. Right,
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: Veterans by and large, unfortunately are a little disillusioned with
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: the service they received from the VA sometimes, but they
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: need it, and navigating that system can be very challenging
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: for someone that's you know, obviously for lack of a
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: better term, you know, normal and and high function. For
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: someone that has a TBI or PTSD or you know,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: struggling financial issues or struggling with family issues, that's the
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: last thing you want to deal with. I So having
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: that having that advocate, which is really what we are,
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: we're advocates to be able to.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: Assist through that.
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  Speaker 4: You know, component of getting your VA benefits, getting your
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: governmental benefits, getting the benefits that are afforded to you
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: based on your veteran service, pounded with you know, high
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: quality housing, our standards. If that you and I wouldn't
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: live there, we're not going to impose it on someone else.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: It really reinstills that dignity and that honor. A lot
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: of the times veterans entered the military to escape a
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: bad situation, and their military career is the height of
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: their light, and then it's all one, you know, all
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: for one, one for all, and then once they exit
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: the service, it's really every man for himself. So that
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: disillusionment that occurs post service is very jarring. Uh. So
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: we want to reinstill that dignity. But as to your
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: question about the case management, it is a case by
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: case basis and trying to you know, you talk about
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: affordable housing, it's not just a veteran issue. It's an
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: American issue. Affordable housing. You know, ranks growing up, how
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: home buying is now infeasible.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: For most of America.
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: It's just it's an American issue. So we provide that
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: affordable housing so that veterans can get back on their feed.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: They can you know they have skin in the game.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: They pay program fees monthly. It's not a free ride,
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: it's not a handout. This is defini end up. But
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: it's a case by case basis as to what they need.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: If it's a financial issue, a lot of people are
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: just bad with finances. Veteran you know, American civilian bad
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: with finances. It's an employment issue and a titlement's issue
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: of a legal issue. We work to help that and
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: and and be an advocate for for what they need
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: to be able to support. And then the best part
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: of it, really, Katie, and what you know, we've been
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: having a lot of grand openings. So I've been fortunate
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: enough and blessed enough to thank the people that I'm
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: about to, But the overwhelmed the surrounded community has been
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: so the support that has been generated by them has
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: been so overwhelming. That is really the cherry on top
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: of the Sunday to make veterans feel that they are
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: a part of the community and that they're real integrating
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: back into that community. We have people that common bank
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: big Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas cookies and Valentine's Day cards
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: and knit us quilts and they come and they give
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: our veterans pet therapy and art therapy and music therapy.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: They come and they play checkers and fishing trips and
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: they get they get involved. So our veterans villages are
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: really conduits for other organizations and civilians in the community
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: managers at large to get involved. A lot of people
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: want to help, they just don't know how, and that
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: that camaraderie is something that's lost post service. And that's
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: where we're trying to read. Still, where was the.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: First veteran village and how how many were you able
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: to provide? I suppose it is a proof of concept, right.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: Sure, So the first village that you know, Tunnel the
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: Towers is owned and operated as our Houston Veterans Village
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: in northwest Tomball. It was a former hotel that we
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: got renovated and transformed into one hundred and thirty one
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: units for veterans. That opened in late twenty twenty three,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: and it took us about eight to ten months to
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: renovate that. So after we bought it, it was you know,
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: quite and we gutted it down to the studs, so
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: it was quite the transformation that occurred very rapidly and
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: just last week, we opened Phase two of that campus,
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: which provided fourteen comfort homes, five er minted square foot
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: units that sit on concrete pads, hooked up the utilities
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: that we dedicate to our older.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: Class of veterans.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: More our veterans can have a little bit more trouble reintegrating,
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: but look for a permanent place to call home. We
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: opened that phase two last week of fourteen homes around
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: that campus. How of our projects have that comfort home village?
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Excellent? So where is your next veterans village going to be?
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: So on Tuesday we're going to be opening up our
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: Atlanta Veterans Village that will provi the eight units of
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: permanent housing in the Atlanta area.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Excellent. And if you I mean, is this like the
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: field of dreams? You know, you you build it and
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: they come, what's the witless like? I mean, like tell
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: us a little bit about how fast you can access
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: them and get them and fill them and and so forth.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: What's the dynamics there?
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: Sure?
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: So we have multiple avenues in which people reach out
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: to us. We work directly with the Department of the
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: VA as well. But we're not you know, there's it's
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: not a contingent arrangement there we're just sort of happy partners,
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: but we're not dependent on their funding, so we work
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: very closely with them to vet and screen eligible candidates.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: But we also have a robust marketing and arm that
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: we utilize privately to get veterans to you know, apply
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: organically so it will get leased of very quickly.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: But there are more than eighty eight.
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: Veterans that are struggling in Atlanta, and there are families
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: that are struggling in Atlanta that are not going to
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: fit into our single remarcutpancy units. So that's really where
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: our national case management network comes in.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: That's the natural blanket.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: So if a family of five want in Atlanta and
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: struggling with homelessness, they're not going to fit at the village,
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: we have the ability to help them. And one of
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: the thing that you touched on before is, uh, you know,
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: a fiction process is foreclosure processes. That is something that
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: that we do that a lot of you know, a
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: lot of organizations don't do. We want to stop the bleeding.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: So if you're about to be evicted, are about to
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: be foreclosed upon, and you go for assistance, federal government
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: will tell you, well, you're not chronically homeless. So right,
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: I'm back in six months when you are.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: It's kind of back. Yeah, So we.
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: Will step in and pay those costs to make sure
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: that you stay in your house. So we're stopping the
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: bleeding and we can really address that thirty five thousand
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: number now.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And we've been talking with the assumption that the
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: homeless veteran is one individual. But you bring up a
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: case here about that's not that is not always the
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: statistics or the dynamics that there are. I was reading
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: several several statistics showing the number of homeless veterans with
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: children right now. So it sounds like you're building a
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: product to recognize that as well. How what is the
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: need there and what are you guys predicting in that
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: serving the veteran plus their kids.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Sure, it is.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: A tremendous problem and something that's very overlooked. Veterans that
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: are struggling with homelessness that have children, those children are
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: silent victims and they've never heard or talked about. It's
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: always the So our platform allows us to provide housing
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: in two, three, four five bedroom apartments houses all of
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: the nation that we can pay the cost to get
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: these veterans in their families housed in and then we
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: set up a sustainability plan so that they can afford
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: it going forward, right, will help them increase their entitlements,
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: will help them gain entrepreneurial career paths, and will help
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: them balance that budget and understand that financial literacy component
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: so that they could sustain it. And then if mom
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: or Dad need help with behavioral health or a legal
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: issue or PTSD, you're an addiction issue, we assist with that.
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: But as I said, you know, since we started over
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: eight thousand children, but we've been able to assist with
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: this program, that is the most gratifying for me personally
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: because again that you.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Know, innocent, innocent collateral damage of this issue. We're addressing
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: that problem.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: As well, all right. And I even can think of
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: probably some scenarios where there's been custody issues related to
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: the homelessness, and so you're just compounding the social and
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: the heart complications here if you've got custody related to
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: their housing and so just being able to stabilize that
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: and have them come into a place and regain that
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: dignity with their own kits. So I mean, very very
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: crucial steps that goes beyond the roof over their head, right.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: You know, there's so many issues in certain cases that
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: you can do nothing but stand still and then there's
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: no extra occurs as the bedouin, right. So as advocates,
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: we come in and we really try to triage what
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: is the most pressing need. Let's address that, yeah, and
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: then work backwards to get them back on you know,
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: the right path. Right.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: So we talked about VA earlier and are we do
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: a lot of work with DASH vouchers trying to make
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: sure they're fully utilized with our clients who are housing authorities.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: So we've been in this space for quite a while
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: and there's some beauty and there's some frustration there. It
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: is a process and there are rules, but we don't
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: have voltures, these VASH valters. We don't have them just
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: sitting there, not used like that. The utilization of those
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: voltures is so important. And even just in the last
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks here, we had a couple of our
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: clients get new VASH vultures, which was amazing for us.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Is there anything in the policy realm or in the
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: VASH realm that you guys see you really wish would
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: be different, or you really wish the disconnect, the log
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: jam could be reconfigured better.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Sure.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: So I'll preface this by saying that, you know, the
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: federal government has a tremendous job to do right, and
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: they do help.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: A tremendous amount of people.
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: But with such a high amount, you know, there's gaps
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: that exist, right, and that's where public private partnerships come
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: in so significantly. So we've tried to identify a lot
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: of those gaps and we plug a lot of those gaps.
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: And there's a lot of other organizations that do. And
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: so the federal government, the state government, tunnel to towers,
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: twenty thousand nonprofits working together towards the same common goal
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: of sharing resources, information, best practices of financial resources, working
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: towards the same common goal. That's how we will get
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: to this functional zero. As to the vast issue, yes,
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: there are components there which I believe the federal government
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: and you know we've been in discussions with HUT.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: And VA on this as well. I think they're working
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: on it.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: There are there are there's money there for vouchers. It's
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: the administration of the case management that needs to accompany
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: that money.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: That is not there.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: So in California, you have, you know, eleven thousand veterans
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: struggling with homelessness. The numbers are right, but there's only
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: four thousand vouchers. There's vouchures sitting there that they don't
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: have the base management to be able to implement them.
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: So I believe they're working on that now. But we're
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: you know, we don't have the time to wait for
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: policy changes or for things, you know, at the federal
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: level to change. We do what we can in the interim,
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: and we have a platform we can help anybody that
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: calls us.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: And that's the beauty of not trying to expect government
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: to solve it all, but to allow true public private
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: partnership to fill in the gaps, pick up the ball
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: when the ball's been dropped. And that's what you guys
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: are doing so well. One of the things is I
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: was preparing to talk with you, I pulled up a
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: map that was an interactive map, and it showed which
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: states had the highest percentages of homeless veterans homelessness, and
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: it was a it was a kind of an eye
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: opening view here. It was like New York, California. You know,
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: you had certain areas. What so when you guys go
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: and do you know, pick where you're going to go
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: for your veteran villages. You know, do you guys look
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: for highest concentration or do you look for where is
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: it somebody who can help us get this job done
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: regardless of concentration. Like, what's the decision making when you
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: go to build your next veteran village. I'm just curious here.
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: Sure, so I do have, you know, an extensive acquisition
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: criteria that I implement for where we go next. But
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: you will find patterns homelessness in general and veteran homelessness.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: The sun belt really in a lot where the concentration is.
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: So we do look at highest rates where where where
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: veterans are struggling, And we like to be close to
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: VA hospitals. We don't like to be out in the boondocks.
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: We don't like to be in industrial areas. So the
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: hotel renovation which is basically, you know, an adaptive reuse
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: strategy that we're implementing. Uh, it's it's it's almost always
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: perfect because you can walk to a grocery store, you
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: can walk the bank, you can walk to an employment opportunity.
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: We provide daily funded you know, privately funded daily transportation
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: as well, just because that's not all the towers. But
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: we don't want to be too far out to where
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: veterans don't feel like they're part of the community, so
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: that they're you know, they're barriers to where they can't
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: get where they need to go. So we do have multiple,
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: multiple projects that we're working on Florida, multiple projects that
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: we're working on in Georgia, in Texas, in California. But
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: then you know, obviously a lot of other states, uh, Buffalo,
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: you know, New York, New Jersey, UH, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida.
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: Uh will be in We'll we'll basically be in all
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: fifty states in a few years.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: So is there any other part of the model that
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: you envision evolving as you look forward to keep this
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: momentum and keep growing, Any other attributes that if you
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: were dreaming about that you could do. What would those be?
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: That's a good question.
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: You know, what we build, you know, buying something and
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: renovating and or building something straightforward enough, the qualitative is
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: where the real challenging part comes in really changing and
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: helping someone change their own life. That is what we're
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: really focusing on and we want to make sure that
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: with the amount of work that we're doing and the
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: amount of villages that we're going to bring online, that
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: we're not sacrificing quality yeah okay, and that that is
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: consistent and that our veterans have the same experience in
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: Buffalo as they do in Florida, as they do in business.
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: So that's something that we're really striving to maintain. But
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: as we bring more and more online and we learn,
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: we will always be adapting, because that's out of the
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: Towers Foundation, But we want to put ourselves out of
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: a job. Basically, we want to get to a point
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: where none of these Veterans villages are necessary because our
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: veterans can go on and again reconnect with their families,
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: go on and get jobs, go on and buy homes,
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: go on, and you go out into the community. So
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: that that's you know, in an ideal world. I do
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: want to get to that functional zero, and I want
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: to make sure that none of our veterans villages have
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: any veterans in the Basically.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my father was a Vietnam VET and I remember
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: when I was younger growing up, there were things you
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: just didn't do in the household to try to work
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: around some of the issues that he had. And but
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: now that he is much much older in his life
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: and he you know, that's a whole nother conversation about
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: his own economic instabule and things that have happened to him.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: But I have seen him really struggle in this phase
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: of life with connectivity to the VA, connectivity to services, stability,
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: trying to maintain, you know, a residence that he can
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: afford and stuff. And it's been a really awkward moment
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: for me as a child trying to take care of
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: a parent. And you know, it's almost like a teenager
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: relationship type of a thing. But there's so many times
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: that he references a veteran helping a veteran where I
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: can't really talk to him in certain matters, but he
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: is finding solace and support with another veteran. So what
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: is the dynamic and how do you guys use that
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: concept to further support what you're doing.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: Well, it comes down to shared experiences, right, So we
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: have peer support specialists that every single one of our
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: village is there are twenty four to seven that are
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: veterans and first responders and they have those shared experiences. Unfortunately, uh,
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: you know, for your father's generation, all of our veterans
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: obviously served faithfully and defended our country. But our Vietnam War,
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: our veterans really got the you know, they got the
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: they got the right end of the stick there when
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: they came back, I don't know have to tell you, you
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: know what occurred and how they were looked upon and
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: how they were retreated. So that really tarnished that trust
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: and that relationship with the federal government to where a
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: lot of them don't want to vail themselves of the
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: VA because of what occurred. So again we try to
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: act as that independent arbiter and that advocate to say
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: that we know you're not happy with what occurred. You
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: know you're not happy with the VA, but let us
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: do this on your behalf.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: You you are owed this for what you.
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: Know, for what you signed up to do and what
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: but you know what you've done to protect our country.
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: So it's it's really just and to bridge that gap.
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: But in terms of shared experiences, that's it. You know,
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: you and I would never be able to understand or
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: relate to what your father encountered. Only someone that encountered
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: the same thing would able to do right. So providing
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: that platform is something that we do do to make
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: sure that they can do so in.
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: A safe space.
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: People that are trained in de escalation and and you
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: know how to work through when things get very emotional
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: and heavy to guide those conversations towards a therapeutic and
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: a positive path.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: So how can our listeners help you guys as an
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: organization or help the community that you're in. What would
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: be something that you would want to challenge our listeners with.
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: Well, go to T two T dot org, take a
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: look at everything we're doing and donate eleven dollars a month.
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: We have hundreds and hundreds and thousands of donors that
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: donate eleven dollars a month to our foundation. As I said,
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: all of our financials are available online. Ninety three cents
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: of every dollar goes away. You see where your donations go,
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: You see how rapidly we work, and you know, the
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: more we're able to generate, the more good we're able
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: to do. It.
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: It's a binary one to one And for.
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: Those that want to donate in a different way, we
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: have thousands and thousands of volunteers.
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: Please come get involved.
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: You'll be able to see where we're building our veterans villages.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: Come and get.
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: Involved Christmas cookies, Thanksgiving turkeys, quilts, board games, books, Come
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: and just spend some time. Right that that is really
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: the qualitative that makes a house a home. We provide houses,
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: and we provide a you know, wrap around comprehensive services,
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: but that community engagement is what makes it a home.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: Gavin, thank you so much for taking the time. God
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: speak to you guys as you just keep building, building,
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: building and really meeting the lives of our veterans where
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: they need it. And this comprehensive services that you guys
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: are doing, we just we just send you guys out
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: there to make sure that we are fully supporting our veterans.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: So thank you to you and your team. It's been
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: a pleasure to have you here. So thank you so much.
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much. Katie, I have a great day.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Change Makers with Katie Gore. To
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: find out more about Katie, go to quadel dot com.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: That's qu A d e l dot com. This has
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: been a production of Forbes Books Radio