Florida CDFI Welcomes Veterans to a Caring Home
Client: The Transition House, Inc. (TTHI)
Client Location: St. Cloud, FL
CDFI: Florida Community Loan Fund (FCLF)
CDFI Service Area: Florida
Financing
When Tom Griffin, CEO of The Transition House, Inc. (TTHI), first opened a halfway-house in 1993, he could offer 12 beds. Today, the organization provides permanent supportive housing for 1,800 clients a year. A contracted Veteran’s Administration program, TTHI specializes in behavioral healthcare for homeless veterans transitioning to society.
Its Veteran’s Residential Program offers housing and supportive services—96 units and staff onsite for counseling—to men and women who served. This comprehensive effort involves property acquisition, construction or renovation, relocation services, and counseling staff at each development. In one project, abandoned homes were converted into 12 apartments for veterans struggling to find housing. Another converted a four-unit rental into affordable apartments for homeless female veterans and their children.
Financing from Florida Community Loan Fund (FCLF), Tom said, has been instrumental in more than 20 Transition House projects. Since 1998, FCLF, a CDFI based in Orlando, has awarded 30 loans, totaling $5.9 million in housing projects, to Transition.
“I truly believe without the support of FCLF, The Transition House, Inc. would not have been able to deliver the services our area so desperately needs,” Tom said. “Our clients have fallen through the cracks. Many walk in our door with nothing more than the shirt on their back. Florida Community Loan Fund knows this need and supports our mission 100%.”