Group to Lease Veterans Homes Located in Gwinnett Parks

An agreement approved by Gwinnett County Commissioners Tuesday will allow veterans and their families to lease five houses located within Gwinnett County parks. The IMPACT! Group will administer the program and cover operations and maintenance costs related to the properties.

The houses are located within the following Gwinnett County parks:

• Graves Park

Established in 1992, the IMPACT! Group is a “non-profit, community development corporation that arranges emergency and transitional shelter for homeless people, helps revitalize low-income neighborhoods, and offers home-buying education, counseling, and mortgage assistance,” according to the Gwinnett County Health Care and Housing.

The state of Georgia has an estimated 496 homeless veterans and experienced a 21.4 percent decrease in the number of homeless veterans between 2012 and 2013, according the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Still, as of 2013, Georgia had the largest share of veterans living in unsheltered locations of any state (88 percent).

“We greatly appreciate the cooperation from Gwinnett County in support of our current $2 million IMPACT! For Vets capital campaign focused on delivering much-needed housing and specialized services for nearly 3,600 homeless veteran families in our community,” said Tom Merkel, the group’s President and CEO.