When the politicians really want to do something, they can find a way. Between San Benito County and the City of Hollister, they need to find a way to help Homes for Our Troops pay the impact fees on the specially adapted home built locally for a severely injured soldier and his family.
No matter what happens, the recipient will get the home at no cost. But if we can find a way to cover the impact fees, the money saved by the organization can be passed on to another project. They have built 143 homes nationwide and have another 34 in progress, and the need continues.
The group and its supporters, many local, cover all costs over and above the Veterans Administration Specially Adapted Housing Grant maximum, which is less than $65,000. If you want to see the “brick and mortar” results, there is a project right here in Hollister on Rosebud Avenue.
The home was built for Army Sgt. Brian Jergens and his family. Jergens lost both of his legs below the knee and suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, hearing loss, internal organ damage, a broken neck and damage to his right elbow in an IED blast in Afghanistan on Aug. 7, 2011.
The problem with merely waiving the impact fees is that they would have to be made up by the General Fund; therefore, we have to find a source to pay for them.
Surely, there are community and housing funds that could cover these expenses among the alphabet soup of programs at the county and city level – we can’t think of an organization whose recipients are more deserving.
