Collier County nonprofit buying housing for homeless veterans

A nonprofit organization in Southwest Florida says it is on the verge of ending homelessness among veterans in the area.

The nonprofit Wounded Warriors of Collier County is set to purchase a 10-unit apartment complex in East Naples.

The complex comes with a hefty price tag and is the largest project for the organization.

Like just nearly every other apartment building located in East Naples or all of Collier County, there are no vacancies in the apartment complex that the Wounded Warriors of Collier County is purchasing units in.

Effective Friday, 10 units are for veterans only. It’s all part of what the president of Wounded Warriors of Collier County, Dale Mullin, said is part of an initiative called “Warrior Homes.”

“We set on a mission about three years ago to provide housing for homeless veterans here in Collier County,” said Mullin.

Three years later, the organization has purchased three homes which they call alpha, bravo and charlie. Those homes serve about 13 homeless veterans. This apartment building will now be known as the delta project.

“With that 20 beds and the other three houses, we will have a total of 33 beds,” said Mullin.

In fact, Mullin said the apartment building will get them much closer to eliminating homelessness among veterans in Collier County. Their goal is to achieve “Function Zero.”

“It really means that anybody who wants a home, there’s a home available, and there’s space available a bed available for that because all homeless people don’t want to be housed,” said Mullin.

Mullin said the 10 units in the apartment building are spoken for. He said the veterans living there will transition into permanent housing over time.

“We’re not going to evict anybody important is not that’s not going to happen,” Mullin said.