Members of the nonprofit group, The Veterans' Place, Inc., applied for federal funds this week to help make a center for homeless veterans a reality.
Jack McDermott, the group's president, said it met a Monday deadline to apply for nearly $800,000 in aid from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The money would contribute largely to a $1.3 million project in Northfield, Vt., he said.
"There are between 120 and 140 homeless veterans in the state of Vermont," said McDermott, who heard the figures at a meeting of the governor's Veterans Advisory Council. "Anywhere from 10 to 15 of them sleep on the street every night."
The current owner of 220 Vine Street is Mayo Healthcare, Inc. Mayo agreed to sell The Veterans' Place the 19th Century Victorian home at a below-market price and also donated furniture already in the vacated senior center, McDermott said.
The veterans house would sleep 26 people, each of whom would receive up to $30 a day from the Department of Veterans Affairs and could stay for up to two years, McDermott said. He said the VA will decide who receives the grant within 120 days.
