Salvation Army seeks new site to house local veterans

HAMPTON

The Salvation Army is asking for help finding a new location to house roughly 50 military veterans now living in a building that's planned for demolition.

The veterans are part of a transitional housing program run by the organization. It provides shelter for former service members who would otherwise be homeless, giving them a place to stay for as long as several months while they find longer-term housing.

For more than a decade the program has used a building at the Hampton VA Medical Center, which leases the site to the Salvation Army and helps pay for the program. But after a January survey of the building, the Department of Veterans Affairs told Salvation Army officials they'd need to find a new location; it was determined that the 100-year-old facility needed more than $3 million in repairs, so the VA has decided to tear it down, according to a news release.

The program needs to find a new home by the time the current lease ends May 31, the Salvation Army's Maj. Kim Feinauer said. He said his organization learned last week that the building would be demolished.

"At this stage we're looking at all options," he said. "We're taking all suggestions."

He said the Salvation Army is working with the Hampton VA, as well as with the city. Ideally, they're looking for a permanent place to relocate the program, but because of their limited time, they're also considering temporary solutions.

Feinauer said a combination of two or more facilities could also work, and the Salvation Army has money to pay rent.

The current building houses as many as 60 people. It has bathrooms but no cooking facilities.

Organizations with ideas or potential sites may call the Salvation Army at 757-838-4875.

Corinne Reilly, 757-446-2949, corinne.reilly@pilotonline.com