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Florida hotel purchased to house veterans in need

Twenty hotel rooms on Anastasia Island will become new homes for veterans.

The ink is still drying on a real estate deal that will turn a hotel into homes for veterans in St. Augustine.

It will be the first of its kind in St. Johns County. The Old Town Inn is less than a mile from the Bridge of Lions on Anastasia Island.

"It’s badly needed," said Bill Dudley with the Veterans Council of St. Johns County Council. 

His organization has teamed up with the group Home Again St. Johns, which helps those in need of homes.

Wednesday afternoon, the two groups bought the Old Town Inn.  All the money, $3 million, came from the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs, 

The plan is to put veterans who are struggling with housing into the hotel rooms.

"We have about 38 veterans that are in need of supportive housing in St. Johns County. This will take care of 20 of them immediately. It’s turnkey," Home Again St. Johns Board President Troy Blevins said.  

He noted that each veteran will have to pay a reduced price based on their income and benefits available. The veterans will also have to meet certain qualifications.

"They have to volunteer to be in the program," Blevins noted. "They have to pass a background check, they have to meet the criteria."

Services will also help the veterans "get into the VA system, healthcare system, helping them with employment," Dudley explained. 

Blevins said this will not be a shelter, and there will be no deadline for the veterans to leave their motel homes.

It will be for veterans who "have gone through a divorce, veterans that have had some PTSDE and lost a job, who are struggling. They’re living on a couch with their family or with a friend, or sometimes in a car. They are trying to et into a better situation."

There are some people who are currently living at the Old Town Inn. Blevins said: 

"We're going to work with them. If they have veteran status and they qualify and they pass the background checks, then they'll be able to continue. Right now, they're on a week to week basis. But, with Home Again St. Johns doing what we do, we're going to help them find another facility and move with hem. That's part of the transition plan." 

Blevins added that because state money is paying for the hotel, and there is no mortgage, and the tenants will be paying a reduced price to stay there, "It’ll be self-sustaining. We’ll have to give it a little boost to start, but it’ll be self sustaining at that point."

Dudley said, "It’s going to meet all the needs that we have been looking for."

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