Dixon, 42, will be one of 50 male veterans who will move into the resource center, which will provide transitional housing, along with employment and placement services for homeless veterans.
U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki was the special guest speaker at the April 7 opening celebration, which included a ribbon-cutting and a tour of the two-floor center within Building 400, which is known as Miller Cottage.
“This facility will be a rung on a ladder that leads to the restoration of veterans’ dignity, their hope and their futures. It will help relieve the pain of those who have so little, but have given so much to us and our country,” Shinseki said.
The VA wants to help men like Dixon, according to Shinseki, who told the audience that there were approximately 131,000 homeless veterans nationwide in 2008 and 107,000 homeless veterans in 2009.
“I have been clean and sober for over a year now,” said Dixon, who served 10 years in the U.S. military and has been homeless twice in the last five years. “It’s been ups and downs for me for a long time, but I have been on the straight and narrow now for over a year and plan on staying here.”
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