Event Honors Partners
Who Help House Veterans

On June 4, Heading Home hosted an awards luncheon for landlords and property managers who help house veterans in our region.

Mark Webb received the Landlord Legacy Award, which recognizes a landlord with a long-standing, sustained commitment to housing veterans.

For many years, Mark owned a small apartment building in Bloomington that housed veterans using housing vouchers from the Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program.

Mark built an intentional community there, with veterans supporting veterans. He developed relationships with the tenants that went far beyond the typical landlord-tenant transaction. Mark made thoughtful choices to honor them, like choosing a shade of military green when painting the building.

When he decided to divest this property as he neared retirement, he found a buyer, Elizabeth Ruh, who was also mission-driven and who is continuing his legacy of service to veterans.

Congratulations to Mark for his service to our community!

Michelle Allen, a property manager at College Square Apartments in Bloomington, received the Golden Key Award, which celebrates a landlord or property manager who helped veterans overcome significant barriers to secure long-term housing.

Michelle is always willing to give folks a chance and go to bat for them, figuring out ways to get veterans approved for leases and helping them move into housing. She is very understanding and caring, and very responsive to any questions or concerns that service providers or tenants might have. Thanks to Michelle for her dedication to housing veterans!

Also at the June 4 event, Tatiana Wheeler of Heading Home shared information about our region’s initiative to end veteran homelessness and the partners who are working to make sure all veterans have a safe, stable place to live.

Other speakers included:

• Scott Seibert, HUD-VASH clinical supervisor. He shared information about supportive housing services provided to veterans.
• Jessie Schwarz, coordinated entry specialist with the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs. She provided information about the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) initiative.

• Steve Miller, Monroe County Veteran Service Officer. He described the services that his office offers and the role they play in connecting veterans to housing.

All speakers — as well as other partners from Beacon, Wheeler Mission, Wellspring, Bedford Men’s Warming Shelter and others — are part of a bi-weekly case conferencing initiative led by Heading Home that’s working to help house veterans.

Since the initiative began in 2023, more than 50 veterans have been housed by these partners working together with landlords and property managers!

Watch a recording of the June 4 program here and view the slides here.

Many thanks to all the individuals who support the work of ending veteran homelessness in our region! Learn more here.