For the first time, Mike Hernandez has neighbors he calls friends, and Angel Rivera believes he can start a new life \u201cgoing straight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both men are among the first residents of Space Coast Commons in Palm Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpace Coast Commons represents a significant step toward addressing the affordable housing crisis in Palm Bay. \u2026 Residents don\u2019t need to couch surf,\u201d said Janet Stringfellow, the CEO\/President of Volunteers of America of Florida, which built the units for low-income families, individuals with special needs and the homeless.<\/p>\n
The 31-unit affordable housing project held\u00a0 a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month. The $9 million Section 8 facility at 1981 Corvair St. SE took just over a year to be built by M. H. Williams Construction Group of Melbourne, ahead of projections. The site offers one and two-bedroom fully-furnished apartments with laundry facilities, a community room and on-site parking.<\/p>\n
Hernandez moved in October with just a few boxes at his third place since moving to the area from upstate New York six years ago to be near his sister.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I\u2019d have a brand-new home with all this furniture. I\u2019m disabled, and this is my forever home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rivera was able to adopt Luna, an Australian Blue Heeler, from Canines for Vets after moving to the Commons this fall. The former Marine said, \u201cI don\u2019t know my future, but for this year I\u2019m going straight. I had everything and lost it. After my divorce, I was done,\u201d he said. Suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, now, he said, he\u2019s hopeful.<\/p>\n
Kera Beard, the development manager, said the building is nearly full, with two families moving in soon and leaving two remaining. Rent is no more than 60 percent of a resident\u2019s income, with a few units reserved for extremely low-income residents. Beard said she was once a single mother working three jobs and living nearby \u201cwho would have loved such a beautiful place for people to come to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteers of America is a faith-based nonprofit operating since 1986 with programs in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to serve more than 2 million people. VOA signed a 99-year lease with the City of Palm Bay and partnered with Brevard nonprofits for screening and counselors.<\/p>\n
Palm Bay Mayor Rob Medina said his passion is for veterans. \u201cI trust Volunteers of America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we approach Christmas, we offer thanks for (being able) to offer our residents the silent night they deserve,\u201d Stringfellow said. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time, Mike Hernandez has neighbors he calls friends, and Angel Rivera believes he can start…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[115,39276,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-67085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-news","tag-senior-life","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}