Vet home may happen sooner
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
POST FALLS — Supporters of a future Idaho veterans home in Post Falls hope the project will hit a faster track to construction thanks to a proposed increase in federal funding for such efforts.
"We've been looking at seven to 10 years on the waiting list, but a proposed six-fold increase in funding for veterans homes could dramatically move us up to construction in 18 to 24 months from now," said Len Crosby, a local veteran who is bird-dogging the effort.
Crosby, Post Falls Mayor Ron Jacobson and Idaho Division of Veterans Services Administrator Marv Hagedorn recently met with Riverbend Commerce Park officials at the park where the Jacklin family donated a 7.3-acre, shovel-ready site for the 56-bed facility.
The proposed Veterans Affairs budget has been approved in the House and is expected to be voted on by the Senate in October.
Federal funding will pay for 65 percent of the vet home project, while the state's contribution is 35 percent. The state Legislature earlier passed a resolution to fund its share.
"The potential that the project will be done on an expedited basis is really exciting," Jacobson told The Press on Friday.
Crosby said the fact that the Post Falls project won't be as large as many in other states also bodes well with the funding possibility.
"If they go down the priority list and have only 'x' amount of dollars left, they may get to us quicker since our facility will be smaller and cost less," he said.
Crosby didn't immediately know a cost estimate for the Post Falls home because it has been redesigned from the original plan. The original plan called for a fragmented facility with multiple pods.
"That may work well in southern California, but not up here where we have snow and ice five months out of the year," Crosby said. "It has been redesigned into a more contiguous facility."
The home will serve veterans in the five counties of North Idaho.
"The closest home is in Lewiston, which is a long drive for veterans and their families, especially in the winter," Crosby said.
The other state veterans homes are in Pocatello and Boise.