Efforts to help vets shape up as housing complex

Just after the photo opportunity and before the first of the speeches, Griffin Dalianis stood before the shell of the building that by next summer will offer homes to 40 honorably discharged U.S. veterans.

Still holding the gold crowbar used as a prop for the ceremony, the veteran and longtime advocate for issues concerning veterans reflected on what it means to him that the building will bear his name.

“It’s the greatest honor of my life outside of my wife and my children,” Dalianis said, as the banner on the Factory Street structure behind him proclaimed “Dalianis House.” Just then, workers who had paused to allow a few brief remarks, resumed the task of transforming the former Avery furniture store into apartments as part of the transitional housing program.

Dalianis said he was proud to have his name attached to an effort to take care of military veterans who had sacrificed and fought for the freedom of all citizens.

The Dalianis House will be owned and run by Harbor Homes through its Veterans FIRST program. As the ground-breaking ceremony moved out of the cold and into nearby Harbor Homes, speakers lavished praised on both the organization, which fights homelessness through various programs, and on Dalianis himself.

Jo A. Moncher, state bureau chief of Community Based Military Programs, said Harbor Homes and Dalianis have a passion for veterans and use that passion for positive change.

Dalianis, a retired psychotherapist and Vietnam-era U.S. Air Force veteran, has served as deputy chief of staff to the National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans.

He also has served as chair of the Veterans Administration Committee on Rehabilitation and as military aide to the governor.

“In providing this type of housing, you’re responding directly to what (veterans want and need),” Phil Mangano, president of the American Roundtable to Abolish Homelessness, said of Harbor Homes.

Because of the commitment President Barack Obama and officials in his cabinet have made to end homelessness among veterans, “our national debt to those who have served will be paid,” Mangano said.

Men and women who fought for our country “will return to a home,” he said.

The Dalianis House will join Buckingham Place on Spring Street as places that “provide a second chance to men and women who sacrificed years of their life to protect all of us,” said Peter Kelleher, president and chief executive officer of Harbor Homes.

Efforts to fight homelessness among veterans here began in 2003 when a homeless veteran was found dead on the banks of the Nashua River, Kelleher said. At that time, there were no local programs for homeless veterans, he said.

Since then, Harbor Homes has become a national model for offering services to house veterans, Mangano said.

Among the more than 100 people who attended the ground-breaking ceremony were members of the military and VFW posts, state and city officials and representatives of businesses that donated to the Dalianis House.

The total project cost, including money to buy the 29,000-square-foot building, is $5 million, with funding to come from various sources, including $330,000 from a federal affordable housing rental grant to the project.

Other funding sources include the Veterans Administration, New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority, Community Development Block Grant funds, New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority and others.

Twenty units would replace veterans housing at 440 Amherst St.

Combined with temporary veterans housing at Buckingham Place on Spring Street, the city would have a total of 60 apartments for transitional housing for veterans.

Patrick Meighan can be reached at 594-6518 or pmeighan@nashuatelegraph.com.