PRESCOTT VALLEY - The Project Aware homeless shelter is expanding.
The Arizona Department of Housing awarded the shelter a $726,000 grant that is opening the door for the non-profit to help more low-income homeless veterans.
Plans are in the works to begin construction in the next few months on 10 studio apartments at 505 S. Granite St.
Project Aware Executive Director Alfred Falk said the shelter opened in 1992 and they built four transitional rental apartments in 2006.
"We're ecstatic, we have been trying for eight years to progress in this direction," he said.
Falk said the grant is important for the shelter because more than half of the veterans they serve are homeless because the wages they earn fall short of rents at area apartments.
"There are veterans hanging around here, some of them sleeping in the forest," he said. "We provide temporary shelter for these people and we hope to provide housing for them."
The average rent for the men staying in their four one-bedroom apartments at 219 W. Leroux St., is $333 a month and that falls in line with the roughly $7 to $9 hourly rates many of the working veterans are earning, Falk said.
"They get the job, but then they can't afford to live here, affordable housing is a great need in Prescott," he said. "Affordable housing and housing for low-income people are essential for the people who work in Prescott.
Jeff L. Zucker, a partner with Catalyst Architecture in Prescott, is designing the units to provide "simple" living space for the men.
"We're trying to make the units as energy efficient as we can possibly do and make them economical," he said. "I think it's a good way to honor the men who served us."
Zucker said a small kitchenette and bathroom are a part of each of the units and they are drafting a grant to pay for solar cells on the roof for electricity.
A courtyard and day room are in the works to provide space for residents to gather, chat, play games and do laundry, Zucker said.
"To get these men to be able to socialize with people you want to get them to be learning or relearning social skills and interacting with other people," he said.
Zucker said construction on the units should begin this summer and finish around November.
