37 Disabled Vets Face The Boot As Non-Profit Albuquerque Group Home Faces Foreclosure

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, KOB-TV Channel 4 reports:

• A local non-profit that provides a home for dozens of vets is behind on its mortgage payment and if money doesn’t come soon, the apartment complex could shut down leaving many of its tenants homeless. For the last five years, the local charity has been providing permanent housing in Northeast Albuquerque for mentally disabled vets who otherwise wouldn’t have a place to live. Now, the organization is $160,000 dollars behind on its mortgage and in danger of shutting down.

• Thirty-seven mentally disabled veterans call the apartments home. Some of them used to be homeless. “It’s given me a lot of security, and I’m happy here,” said Veteran Floyd Sullivan.

• But their security is at risk. Highpointe Solutions, which runs the facility, is behind on mortgage payments. And the bank intends to foreclose. “I don’t know where these people are going to have to end up going. Maybe shelters,” said Highpoint Caregiver Hanz Heredia. He says the charity need to come up with $160,000 by September 1st. “We take care of them, feeding them, giving them their medication, basically taking care of their needs,” Heredia explained.

• The non-profit operates without government help and without public donations. Rental income from the vets is the sole funding for the charity. But it’s not enough. To make up for the deficit, the charity’s founder pays some of the expenses out of her own pocket and borrows the rest from a local bank. “You got people that tend to have schizophrenic, they lose their memory, Alzheimers, you never know,” Heredia added.

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• The charity is [] applying for grants to help pay off the mortgage. A website has been set up for donations, which is www.forourveterans.us.

For the story, see Disabled veterans facing eviction.