Letters

Long Island’s housing crisis gravely impacts our neighbors who have sacrificed to preserve our freedom and keep us safe: the brave men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces.

Many returning veterans struggle with myriad challenges — including finding affordable housing and often managing lingering mental health challenges like post-traumatic stress disorder.

I have been proud to serve this community on Long Island for years. Unfortunately, I have also seen how misleading narratives about supportive and affordable housing stand in the way of delivering high-quality resources to those who need it most — and how those narratives harm our community overall.

It is important to start by considering the scale of the issue. Right here in New York, more than 134,000 veterans live in homes with one or more major problems of quality, crowding, and/or cost, and about 1,250 veterans experience homelessness on any given night.

Make no mistake: That is an emergency.

Liberty Gardens, a proposal from my company, Concern Housing, would create five two-story townhome-style buildings on vacant land behind the Southampton Full Gospel Church. The proposal, as it stands today, calls for 25 affordable and workforce housing units and 25 supportive units for veterans.

Since its announcement, it has faced bad-faith criticism, including the assertion that the development team misled the community.

One claim is that we are disingenuous when referring to our housing as workforce housing. That could not be further from the truth. The residents of our many Suffolk County developments are largely working people employed in jobs our economy needs. Liberty Gardens would be no different.

More disturbing is how critics capitalize on the stigmatization of those struggling with mental illness, particularly those experiencing PTSD. This is an abandonment of our duty as New Yorkers and a misinterpretation of the work supportive housing does.

So here are the facts:

Affordable and supportive housing helps our veterans. Decades of research proves that housing is health care, and supportive services can assist our veterans experiencing mental health challenges — regardless of their income.

Supportive housing also is the most effective way to address chronic homelessness, with only 5 percent of tenants returning to the streets or shelters.

Rather than letting ideology and fear drive our decision-making, we must create systems of support for our most vulnerable neighbors. Southampton cannot let this opportunity pass — it is critical to help establish a more robust safety net for those who served our country, and it’s inexcusable to abandon our veterans in their moment of need.

Veterans live by an ethos that “until they are home, no man is left behind.” That is a spirit that our community should emulate and embrace.

That is no less than our veterans deserve.

Ralph Fasano

Executive Director

Concern for Independent Living