Veterans Village Container Housing Groundbreaking Ceremony

On February 26, Veterans Village broke ground at the site of their newest housing development for homeless veterans. Through Sands Cares, Las Vegas Sands’ corporate giving program, Veterans Village was given a “seed grant” to support the early stages and infrastructure of the shipping container neighborhood. With Las Vegas ranking as one of the top ten cities with the highest homeless populations in the country, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Las Vegas Sands is committed to providing relief and finding solutions to end homelessness in Las Vegas.

Arnold Stalk, PhD, founder of Veterans Village, plans to have 11 units fully transformed and furnished to house veterans. Just one container has been completed through the support of an anonymous donor, but Stalk is looking for more sponsors to fund the remaining homes.

“We are grateful to Sands Cares for their support towards the development of our Veterans Village/Sands Cares Container Park Village,” he said. “We look forward to providing housing that shows respect and dignity for our US Veteran heroes.”

Veterans Village’s mission is to create an environment for US veterans by providing a unique and innovative approach to holistic and comprehensive housing with support services including an emergency housing fund and food assistance. The homeless veteran population in Southern Nevada has made great strides in attaining assistance, currently considered as “functional zero,” a term used when a system is built of housing and services so robust that homelessness is rare, brief, and one-time, with enough resources to prevent it, immediately rehouse people, or when the system does well at keeping people housed. Stalk plans to begin with the 11 units, but hopes to be able to house a hundred more. In May, the 2018 National Hardware Show will host a tiny homes furniture workshop in support of Veterans Village.

“You look at the genius of the man, and what he’s done, and how he has held on for dear life to honor our veterans and choose Las Vegas to make the world take notice that our veterans are beloved,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “And certainly to the brilliance that he has had seen the use of what these can be.”

Ron Reese, senior vice president of Global Communications and Corporate Affairs at Las Vegas Sands, also reminded the community of the company’s commitment to veterans at the ceremony.

“Arnie [Stalk] referenced the donation, the seed money to get this started and for us, it’s not a donation—we make investments and we’re invested in something we care deeply about and we’ve had a long commitment to our veterans and our veterans here in Southern Nevada,” Reese said. “We plan on following up with our investment with time and labor and whatever else we can provide. We look forward to being part of this development for many years to come.”