Veterans permanent supportive housing Victory Gardens showcased

Victory Gardens, a permanent supportive housing development in French Camp for unhoused veterans, is officially — almost — open.

The latest project from the Housing Authority of the County of San Joaquin (HACSJ) and the county harbors 49 one- and two-bedroom apartments for homeless veterans. Once occupants are moved in — Peter Ragsdale, executive director of HACSJ said a snag with PG&E is the holdup — Victory Gardens will house roughly 100 homeless veterans and their loved ones and pets.

“We take people as they come,” Ragsdale said. “Homeless, mental health challenges, addiction … its housing with services.”

Rent is capped at 30% of income. If an occupant has no income, rent will be around $50, Ragsdale said. Eligible occupants are veterans eligible for Veterans Affairs medical benefits — generally those with an honorable discharge — at which point they’d have a licensed social worker to help them be successful in housing, Ragsdale said. Five units are also for regular housing choice vouchers, which Ragsdale said allows them to house veterans who have a dishonorable discharge or other service-related challenges that may cause them to leave the military without full benefits.

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Victory Gardens is strategically located near San Joaquin General Hospital, the future regional VA community-based outpatient clinic under construction visible from I-5 and close to public transportation. Built on 2.5 acres of county-owned land, the project is a public-private partnership between the housing authority, its nonprofit arm Delta Community Developers Corp., DFA Development and San Joaquin County.

County Supervisor Tom Patti, a candidate in the November elections to represent the 9th Congressional District in Washington D.C., said the board of supervisors has prioritized veteran housing and support services but he’s ready to do more.

“I’m proud to see this is the fruition of everybody’s collective vision,” Patti said. “We have stakes in this game for victory, for our veterans and for addressing the homelessness issue, the tragedy, the humanitarian crisis, truly a national crisis and it needs to be declared that.”

An “unprecedented” amount of federal housing vouchers will help operate the project long-term, Ragsdale said. Congressman Josh Harder, Patti’s opponent in November, said Ragsdale and the housing authority are moving at "the speed of light" even through COVID. The project broke ground August 2021 and was set in motion three years ago.

Most of the veterans living at Victory Gardens will be Vietnam veterans, many of whom were not treated with the respect and dignity they deserved, Harder said.

“Some of them were spat on. One of the Vietnam vets in San Joaquin County told me he took his uniform off, put it under his bed and never wanted to talk about it,” Harder said. “I think this project is a culmination of efforts to try to fix some of those challenges over the last 50 years to make sure we dignify the service of those veterans.”

It's estimated there are roughly 140 unhoused veterans in San Joaquin County. At 49 units, Victory Gardens is space to make a sizeable difference.

“Victory Gardens will not solve veterans homelessness in San Joaquin County … This is actionable, this is replicable and the team behind this project humbly and fortunately are ready to do more,” Ragsdale said. “We’ve taken roughly $3-4 million local dollars and turned it into this.”

Victory Gardens is HACSJ’s third permanent supportive housing project and the first Veteran Housing and Homelessness Prevention project in the county after the housing authority was awarded $6.8 million from the state program. The housing authority also secured $19 million in highly-competitive low-income housing tax credit equity — developers provide equity to fund affordable housing projects in return for tax credits, a government-administered program to help affordable housing be a feasible investment for developers — to bankroll the majority of Victory Gardens.

“These problems can be solved,” Ragsdale said. “Permanent supportive housing is a critical need in our community, and I think we have to take the opportunity, this moment in time, where the federal and state governments are putting unprecedented resources into solving this problem.”

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Ragsdale said the housing authority has received a $24 million HomeKey award from the state — another round of funding is coming Spring 2023 — and is in talks with the county on utilizing the funds for a modular-build project on the land adjacent to Victory Gardens.

Record reporter Ben Irwin covers Stockton and San Joaquin County government. He can be reached at birwin@recordnet.com or on Twitter @B1rwin. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at recordnet.com/subscribenow. 

This article originally appeared on The Record: Veterans permanent supportive housing Victory Gardens showcased