National organization sets sights on building local vets housing

LYNN – A national organization that runs 33 veterans housing complexes wants to spend $1.1 million on helping local vets move from chronic homelessness to stable housing.Thomas Bierbaum, president of the Massachusetts chapter of Volunteers of America, said the group is seeking a Lynn site sufficient to house 20 veterans in separate rooms and nine in studio apartments.Bierbaum said the Veterans Administration estimates about 60 Lynn area veterans could qualify for housing and other help through Volunteers’ program. He said Volunteers would work with local agencies already assisting the homeless to identify veterans who need help.”The next step is to find a suitable location,” he said.Founded in 1896 and expanded in 1931 to Massachusetts, Volunteers of America runs nine social service programs that served over 2,000 people last year, according to the organization’s Web site. Services included substance abuse treatment, help for at-risk youth and senior and family assistance.The VA estimates the nation has 154,000 homeless veterans. The agency claims programs similar to the one Volunteers wants to undertake in Lynn reduced the number of homeless veterans nationwide by 21 percent in 2007.”The VA is especially effective at programs that get to mental health and substance abuse problems,” Bierbaum said.Under VA rules, Volunteers has a year to find a site for its Lynn project. That search will parallel efforts by a local physician and property manager to convince the Veterans Administration to open a 6,000-7,000 square foot clinic in the Boston Street doctors’ building.Retired cardiologist Daniel Wistran has worked for two years with U.S. Rep. John Tierney, Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. and Veterans Director Michael Sweeney to expand the existing Boston Street clinic.The existing clinic occupies two small offices on the first floor of Wistran’s building.Wistran envisions the expanded facility caring for a variety of veterans’ medical needs, including head injury and mental health care for returning Iraq and Afghan-istan veterans.