The Liberty County Housing Authority plans to purchase the old headquarters of Liberty County EMS in Daisetta for the purpose of providing affordable housing for elderly and veteran citizens. Closing on the property is couple of weeks away, but Housing Authority personnel are busy making plans to outfit the building into small apartments for several residents.
According to Delores Moore, executive director for the Housing Authority, the building will be named to honor a local veteran who died in combat. A house-naming campaign is now underway with residents in the community being asked to cast their votes.
“The nominees are all hometown boys who died in the line of duty. They are mostly World War II veterans but we also have a Vietnam veteran and one Iraq war veteran,” Moore said.
The home will be named after the veteran with the top number of votes but others will be honored with the naming of rooms inside the house.
The building will be divided into at least seven single-occupancy rooms with a communal living room, kitchen and dining room. The building already has two large bathrooms, including one that is handicap-accessible, so the main challenge will be turning former office spaces into bedrooms. This will involve moving a couple of non-load-bearing walls in order to open up the space.
“The other two rooms in the front of the building we hope to flesh out into two full apartments as we get funding,” Moore said.
A privacy fence will be added to the backyard where the plans are to create raised garden beds where the veterans can grow vegetables and flowers. Moore hopes to partner with local schools to create the raised garden beds.
The Daisetta community, like many others in Liberty County, is an area where elderly and veteran housing is sorely needed, said Klint Bush, president of the Housing Authority board. Currently, LCHA has two veterans living in tiny houses on Bobcat Lane.
“We enjoy working in that community and are looking forward to getting this property. The things we are putting in we hope will be a positive in the community and raise the standard of living for our elderly residents,” he said.
LCHA will open the application process for the homes in June.
In order to outfit each apartment with a refrigerator and microwave, at a cost of $700 per apartment, Moore and her LCHA staff – Angela Ungles and Mary Berry – have formed a separate non-profit called Neighborhoods for Hope. The three formed the non-profit in order to qualify for grants that are not available for LCHA projects.
For more information, call Liberty County Housing Authority at 936-336-4558.