A program focused on providing a path to permanent housing for women veterans in Stark County dealing with homelessness has received a $600,000 grant to expand its services. Honor Home, which is run by community nonprofit Axess Family Services, received the grant the through the Ohio Department of Development to address the growing number of unhoused people in the state. .
In a 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ohio recorded an increase with 11,759 individuals classified as homeless, a three percent increase from the 2023. 589 were veterans.
“Homelessness is an issue. It’s always here. I think everyone deserves good safe, affordable housing,” said Matt Slater, Director of Development for Axess Family Services. “And our veterans absolutely deserve that.”
The grant will allow Honor Home to expand its facilities to accommodate more veterans with the purchase of two separate properties, combining them into a single shelter. It’s intended to replace currently used buildings.
Slater said the new facilities will allow for individual spaces for women and their children, creating a campus for women veterans.
“It helps with cost efficiency. It helps create better space for veterans,” said Slater. “Right now, veterans are having to share bedrooms and bathrooms. That is a difficult ask for anyone let alone our vets who are working through a number of challenges, trying to rebuild their lives.”
In addition to the Department of Development grant, Slater said Honor Home received funds from the Ohio Department of Veteran Affairs and five other charities that helped, “make sure no veterans have to be on the street.”
Honor Home is one of four programs around Ohio receiving grant money from the state for the creation of shelter space with more privacy like bedrooms and bathrooms. The other program in Northeast Ohio getting funding under the grant is Family Promise of Summit County. It plans to rehabilitate a 10,000 square foot Cuyahoga Falls apartment building into individual housing units for its clients.
The other two programs getting grants are Hocking Athens Perry Community Action Partnership in Athens County and Mercy Mission House in Shelby County.
“What makes projects like these so impactful is they’re not just giving people a place to put their heads at night; they’re providing hundreds of Ohioans with a fresh start and a new path forward,” said Lydia Mihalik, director of the Department of Development in the press release announcing the grants. “When someone has a safe place to start over, everything else — employment, education, health—becomes possible. And that’s worth investing in.”
