Homeless veterans in Kansas City get a place to hang their hats (Kansas City Star, MO)

Kansas City Star
(8/31/2014 4:41 AM, Tim Engle)

Heroes Home Gate, on East 35th Street just a stone’s throw from U.S. 71, is a new emergency shelter for homeless veterans. But don’t let “shelter” give you the wrong idea. It’s a home, and it feels that way. Guys who’ll live there helped paint the handsome old three-story house in Kansas City’s Ivanhoe neighborhood. Two sofas, some easy chairs and gleaming hardwood floors make for an inviting living room. Above one window, six letters: Heroes. This home replaces a rental house several blocks away. A faith-based organization called Footprints Inc. has operated Heroes Home Gate since 2011; the Department of Veterans Affairs provides funding. Footprints bought the house for $45,000 last November from Kansas City Rescue Mission. But VA officials, after inspecting the house, wouldn’t sign off unless Footprints made about $20,000 in improvements.