FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 A Fort Myers Marine Corps veteran who served his country for four years is getting a brand new home completely free of charge through a partnership between the city and local builders.<\/p>\n
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price’s report: <\/p>\n
Fort Myers Marine veteran receives free home through community partnership<\/p>\n
Lewis Freeman said he “could almost faint” when he learned he would be receiving the free home. The Marine Corps veteran has struggled with housing, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic drove prices higher.<\/p>\n
“It’s been treacherous, and then the COVID came in, the prices went sky high, and that made it even worse,” Freeman said.<\/p>\n
According to the Lee County Homeless Coalition, there were 86 veterans recorded in the 2023 Point-in-Time count. The annual count for 2024 has not been publicly released for Lee County yet.<\/p>\n
The home is being built through Lee Builders Care, with the City of Fort Myers donating the lot. Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson says it’s beneficial for everyone involved.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“A veteran getting a brand new home at no cost. Can’t beat that,” Anderson said.<\/p>\n
Pulte Homes Division President Josh Graves says multiple companies are donating materials for the project.<\/p>\n
“There will be so many different parts and pieces donated by so many different companies,” Graves said.<\/p>\n
The single-family home will include a garage and handicap accessibility features for Freeman, who suffered a stroke that left his left side paralyzed. Freeman will get to choose countertops, cabinets and flooring colors.<\/p>\n
Freeman says Lee Builders Care representatives told him they would build his “perfect home.”<\/p>\n
“It’s not going to be a shack, it’s going to be a home,” Freeman said.<\/p>\n
Construction begins early next year with completion expected by spring. The council says they are seeking to help more veterans in this way.<\/p>\n
For Freeman, the home represents more than just shelter.<\/p>\n
“That means they’re not just sitting in office, they care,” Freeman said.<\/p>\n
Pulte Homes has built over 100 mortgage-free homes for combat wounded veterans nationwide through their Built to Honor program. The company celebrated their 100th home this year.<\/p>\n
When asked about plans for multi-unit housing to help more veterans, Anderson said the city doesn’t have land suitable for multi-family developments but continues building single-family homes through their affordable housing program. The city has built and sold three homes, with a fourth nearing completion and a fifth under construction. Their goal is to build 50 homes over the next five years.<\/p>\n
“It’s not our responsibility to feed, clothe or house people. Now, with that being said, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t play a part in doing so, and this is what we’re doing,” Anderson said.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 A Fort Myers Marine Corps veteran who served his country for four years is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,32628,42014,4489,42018,10734,897,42009,42015,42013,42011,42016,356,42010,42017,42012],"class_list":["post-73641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-community-partnership","tag-community-partnerships","tag-downtown-fort-myers-florida","tag-florida-help-with-homes","tag-florida-homes","tag-fort-myers","tag-fort-myers-affordable-housing","tag-fort-myers-veteran-housing","tag-handicap-accessible-homes","tag-kevin-anderson-fort-myers","tag-lee-builders-care","tag-lee-county","tag-marine-corps-veteran","tag-pulte-homes-built-to-honor","tag-veteran-homelessness-lee-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73641","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=73641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}