ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) For the first time, the Housing Development Corporation of Rock Hill is partnering with the Saranac Management Group to build a brand new home for one special veteran – and the home will be completely free.
A new home and a beginning for one special veteran, here in Rock Hill. The build is underway for a free home giveaway, projected to be finished this summer.
Dawn Willingham, Executive Director of the Rock Hill Housing Development, says, “The footers have been dug and poured for a home that is going to be built by Saranac Management Group with donated materials and money and time in the home will be given away to a veteran.”
Veteran homelessness has been an ongoing issue across the country and in our area according to the Department of veteran affairs at the beginning of 2019 more than 37,000 veterans experienced homelessness. With that number on the decline, programs like this one are hoping to connect veterans with safe housing, giving them a new foundation.
Krista Parenti, the Housing Coordinator at the Rock Hill Housing Development, says, “We work very closely with Saranac Management Group who built a lot of the houses that we either rent or sell, and Tyson who runs that company here, reached out to Dawn who is my boss, and said ‘hey I would really love to build a house to give to a veteran for free’.”
After land was donated by the Housing Corporation of Rock Hill, building began. Applicants must meet certain requirements to be eligible.
“The veteran has to be a combat veteran or have gone overseas, they have to be at 80% or below of the area median income,” says Parenti.
Housing leaders say home security is something important for everyone to have.
“It is ownership — and having a place to call yours,” says Willingham.
In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson is speaking with Rock Hill leaders about what this opportunity will mean.
