Warriors Set Free Director Steve Prince, left, and Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly celebrate the launch of a national pilot program offering all-inclusive services for homeless veterans, called Freedom Homestead
photo by Hannah Campbell
The Freedom Homestead national pilot program for homeless veterans celebrated a joint kickoff and homecoming in Chattanooga Friday.
Freedom Homestead is the newest arm of Frontline Response, an Atlanta non-profit that helps people exit homelessness and sex trafficking. Chattanooga was announced as the host city of the all-inclusive care pilot at Frontline’s 20th anniversary celebration in Atlanta in October, beating Atlanta, Houston and Sacramento, Calif.
The Freedom Homestead model’s through-line consolidation of both care and funding will make it effective and sustainable where other veteran services fall short, officials said.
“We all come together to do what is considered impossible,” said state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D-28). “It’s what has come to be known as ‘The Chattanooga Way.’”
Frontline National Expansion Officer Jeff Shaw said Chattanooga’s existing non-profit infrastructure and community support make it right for this pilot, as the city has proven an attractive test bed for a wide range of projects.
“It’s not hard to get somebody on the phone,” Mr. Shaw said. “It’s a very generous community.”
Frontline Response will provide core staff, but services will come from existing local organizations who become on-location partners.
The Freedom Homestead effort is being launched by a $12.5-million grant from the Heart of a Lion Foundation, co-founded by pro golfer John Daly and Major Ed Pulido. Organizers say they will double that money in the next three years and open in 2026.
An unidentified Hamilton County campus will serve the region. Mr. Shaw said a rural location will open the project to U.S. Department of Agriculture grants.
Unhoused veterans will be identified by the Chattanooga Area Veterans Council. The program is open to local clients only.
Mr. Shaw said that veterans today suffer from fractured families, loss of sense of purpose, depression, untreated brain injuries and untreated complex post-traumatic stress disorder, any of which can cause homelessness. Some first enlisted to escape problems at home, but they find those problems waiting after life in the military.
He said veterans nationwide are slipping through the cracks left by siloed resources and donor fatigue that comes with “territorial” service providers who end up fragmenting funds, too. The continued-care model of Freedom Homestead will help fix access and funding, he said.
The city has pledged housing vouchers to help provide permanent housing for veterans when they are ready to move off-campus.
Key partners Warriors Set Free and Veterans Empowerment Organization testify that veterans receive help better when it’s from other veterans. In the same way, the campus will reuse elements of military service that work such as close quarters and shared meals to provide an everyday connection that’s necessary for internal difficulties to surface and be healed.
“We want to see people live free,” said Mr. Shaw. “We think that’s something that’s wired into us.”
Amenities will include a tiny home neighborhood, a community kitchen and dining space, behavioral health and medical clinics, vocational training and education, and outdoor therapy including horseback riding, hiking and fishing.