Veterans Village, the private Las Vegas-based transitional housing program, caught the eye of the White House — again.
Arnold Stalk, who founded and runs Veterans Village, met Friday in Washington with Trump administration officials about his work to assist homeless veterans. He detailed plans to convert an old apartment house near Fremont and 14th streets into an 88-bed assisted living complex.
Stalk said he is seeking Department of Veterans Affairs support for his assisted living proposal, which he plans open by the fall. The new complex is being designed to accommodate residents with chronic health problems.
Stalk said the White House staff received the program request very well and helped connect Veterans Village with officials in the VA.
He said the assisted living facility is a coming together of several different organizations to help "take care of our veterans from the street to the end of their life."
Stalk admits that an assisted living facility will be very expensive but he is positive he can get the donations needed from private businesses and government subsidies to run the facility, which he expects to open in the next three to four months. It will be the second assisted living facility for veterans in Southern Nevada. The first is in Boulder City.
It that combination of public and private money that Stalk believes is vital to tackling the problem of homelessness.
"I don't believe it is the government's responsibility to solve this problem," Stalk said, "I believe it's the communities' problem and we need to solve it as a community."
He said there are a lot of good organizations working to solve the homeless problem in Southern Nevada.
Early last year, Stalk was invited to Washington and met with then-first lady Michelle Obama about his work with homeless veterans.
Veterans Village currently operates two campuses, both in downtown Las Vegas.
Arnold Stalk, Veterans Village founder