Veterans Village offers affordable apartments and a sense of community to military families in Philly

Last July, Leon Brantley, a proud member of a military family, moved into a new home in Veterans Village Philadelphia, a newly built apartment complex in the city’s Frankford section.

It didn’t take long for him to feel at home.

“To me, it’s like living in the barracks,” Brantley, 74, said, chuckling. “I’ve met some comrades and made friends. We’re building a bond as we go along.”

Supporting people who have served their country while they support one another is the idea behind Veterans Village Inc., a Philadelphia-based affordable housing nonprofit now filling up its first rental community. So far, 31 of its 47 units — from studios to three-bedrooms — have tenants.

The $6.5 million Frankford project is modular construction funded by individual, corporate, and foundation donations plus traditional financing. Program leaders hope it will be the first of other Veterans Villages around the country.

“Whoever has the real estate, funding, passion, and volition to create a village, we will help that person or organization,” said Dana Spain, president of Veterans Villages Inc.’s board of directors. “We alone cannot build enough villages to house all of our veterans in need, but we can be part of the solution.”

Spain’s no newcomer to housing or philanthropy. The daughter of Bernard Spain, the late Dollar Express and greeting card entrepreneur, Dana Spain is owner of the Spain Development Group. Her credits as a charity leader include Philly PAWS, now the city’s largest animal rescue partner, and HAVEN Women, a housing facility for homeless female veterans, as well as those coming out of shelters, incarceration, or addiction.

The idea for Veterans Village arose out of her frustration with the poor quality and often lack of safety in housing choices available to the women graduating from HAVEN. One day in 2020, she was venting about the situation to her father, who was also a philanthropist and a Korean War veteran.

“He said, ‘Don’t you build apartment buildings for a living? Let’s not complain about it. Let’s do something about it,’ ” Spain said. “And so Veterans Village was born.”

The Joan and Bernard Spain Foundation contributed $1 million toward the building of the Frankford Veterans Village.

“The need is great, sadly, and some of the options that are offered to some veterans that they can afford or use vouchers for from the federal government are not how you would want to live,” said Deputy Adjutant General Maureen Weigl of the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

“Veterans Village is one-, two-, three-bedroom beautiful apartments. Granite countertops, state-of-the-art construction, and it’s just for folks who are facing housing insecurity and might feel embarrassed or vulnerable,” Weigl said. “This housing gives them something to be proud of.”

Veterans Village also has two- and three-bedroom apartments that can affordably accommodate veterans with families.

The rents range from $800 for the smallest units to $1,775 for a three-bedroom. Of the 36 units currently occupied, 25 have their rents subsidized through federal Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers. The other 11 village residents are private payers.

Veterans’ housing insecurity or homelessness stems from a number of causes. Hurdles include the rising costs of housing and difficulty securing work with wages to cover living expenses. About 1.5 million veterans nationally were living below the federal poverty line last year, according to nonprofit National Veterans Homeless Support.

Some veterans also battle mental health challenges, including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from combat and other service-related strife, domestic and sexual violence, and other trauma. As many as 30% of veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD, according to federal health data. Other vets struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

The federal Veterans Administration set a national goal of housing 38,000 homeless veterans in 2023. More than 90% of Veteran Village’s tenants have remained housed and employed since units became available, according to Weigl.

“We’re focused on supporting and serving them, just as they served our nation,” said Lisa Pflaumer, who is from a military family and is a member of Veterans Village’s board of directors.

Quite a few of the residents were referred by veterans groups. Many are already getting services from veterans agencies, and some residents get additional service referrals from the village’s staff.

The intent behind creating all-veterans housing is that those who have served will also find support in each other. There are already signs of that happening.

“There’s a sense of camaraderie,” Pflaumer said. “There’s a sense of belonging and sense of community as a result.”

Vanessa Morbeck, 32, who served seven years in the Army, likes living among her fellow veterans.

“We all have a commonality and a common bond,” she said. “As a veteran, there are places and situations and experiences that only we can understand because we’ve lived through it.”

Some of them aren’t easy to bear. Diagnosed with PTSD, Morbeck is a survivor of military sexual trauma, a problem that has grown in recent years, as well as domestic violence and childhood abuse. She’s gone through bouts of homelessness. She is a suicide survivor, too. And although she did human resources work in the military, she has struggled to find secure employment in the civilian world.

Her apartment in Veteran Village is a place for her to renew and strengthen her relationship with her 8-year-old daughter, Ariana Johnston, whom she is now co-parenting with the child’s father, who is stationed in New Jersey. Ariana spends part of her time with him and his family and part of the time with Morbeck.

“I’m just making it happen,” she said. “I’m making sure my daughter’s safe, protected. I get her to school. I spend time with her. We have the basic necessities, food in the house. We’ll go to the park. That’s free.”

Morbeck is working on herself, too, trying to become healthier, stronger. One of her goals is sharing her experiences with others, both veterans and civilians. She has already done some of that — one of the interviews she did was made into a podcast in the Save Our Children series and she also made a video — but she wants to do more.

“If I can go through all the struggles and still be here, then maybe they can find hope and courage in that, too.”

Brantley, one of five military brothers, comes from a family with a long history of service. His mother, Lena Clara Brantley Heard, was a five-blue-star mother, and his paternal grandmother, Frances Berry, had four sons who served, Brantley said.

“We have been a part of Americanism and patriotism since before the Revolutionary War,” he said.

Brantley, who grew up in Frankford, enlisted in the Army in January 1967 and was sent first to Hawaii. That, he said, was “paradise. The second year I was in hell because I was sent to Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, ‘67 to ‘68. I spent my 18th birthday in the jungle.”

Life in the service and after took its toll. When he was not quite 25, a fire in his home claimed the lives of three of his children.

He worked for the city and the postal service until he was granted disability due to PTSD. But he’s always tried to lend a hand to his fellow veterans, he said. He started his own organization, NUAMVAW, which stands for Neighbors United American Member Veterans and Warriors. He said he’s already offered welcome and support to residents at his new home.

He sees the potential for that kind of fellowship at Veterans Village.

Residents already congregate in the community room to cheer on the Eagles and their other favorite teams. Brantley can see the residents also gathering to share information and support as well.

“I hope more Veterans Villages do occur and become the norm,” Brantley said. “Not only are they needed, I would support them wholeheartedly.”

He, for one, is looking forward to the 2024 Veterans Day Parade.

“Next year,” he said, “Veterans Village will be participating.”