Veterans services

A new nonprofit-backed push to help local veterans in need of quality housing will break ground Friday, kicking off a building spree that aims to erect 11 new homes at a five-acre site near Crane Hill.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the effort is welcome to attend today’s 1:20 p.m. groundbreaking, said Irv Jones, the president of the nonprofit Connie’s Cottages — a veteran-focused housing charity named in honor of Jones’ wife — a four-time breast cancer survivor.

While the Joneses themselves aren’t veterans, Irv said he came to recognize the need for better housing solutions for area vets as he began to inquire about the Cullman area while planning an upcoming move from the San Francisco Bay area, where the couple currently resides.

“Sadly, neither of us is a veteran — although we do have parents and relatives who are,” Jones explained. “But just from talking with veterans in the area as well as representatives from the VA office in Birmingham, we learned a lot about the challenges that many of them face in terms of getting back into the mainstream of society.

“It really opened our eyes to the need for more and better housing for veterans in this area — particularly for those coming out of theatre in Afghanistan and other recent deployments. When people have been in battle or in a warfighting environment, they often leave a big part of themselves there. We want to build not just affordable housing, but really nice housing, and in a peaceful environment like we have at the Crane Hill property.”

The nonprofit hopes to erect the first 11 houses at the Crane Hill site at no cost to the veterans who qualify to reside there. Each home, said Jones, will measure about 800 square feet, and will be part of a veteran community on the property — though Jones said he hopes to eventually target other local properties where the same building pattern can be repeated to serve more veterans.

The site is just west of Crane Hill and just south of Crooked Creek Road (County Road 950). Enter the following address into the online map of your choosing to find the property: 0 County Road 949, Crane Hill Alabama, 35053.