The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reported there were more than 30,000 homeless veterans in 2022, with many struggling to find their footing transitioning from life after combat.
Andy Williams – U.S. Marine and co-host of HGTV’s “Flip or Flop Fort Worth” – founded Rehab Warriors with one mission, to upskill veterans while rebuilding communities.
Rehab Warriors is leveraging veteran leadership to build a workforce as they provide veterans with world-class training in residential construction, remodeling, and small-scale development, empowering them with the necessary skills to be a force multiplier as Rehab Warriors collectively rebuilds communities that have been undercapitalized and underserved.
“The easiest way to help veterans transition is to double down on underserved communities and rebuild them with a purpose,” said Williams. “We at Rehab Warriors handle the American Dream of housing like a wounded warrior – we handle it with care. Everyone, especially veterans, deserves a pathway to housing and freedom.”
Those pathways have become impossibly steep in recent years. Home prices rose 19% in 2021, after rising 10% in 2020. There were just 250,000 homes available nationwide for families earning $75,000 to $100,000 a year, barely one-third of the inventory from before the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found, and in almost 500 U.S. cities, the average home price is more than $1 million. As the working class struggles to find housing for entry-level homes, the veteran is a perfect pipeline for local governments to increase their local housing supply while empowering veterans with high-earning careers, as they return home looking for their next mission.
As the economy corrects and layoffs continue, it is only natural for Rehab Warriors’ cause to maintain focus on employment and economic pathways specifically for veterans.
The Rehab Warriors leadership team has led the organization into early success with active development projects totaling over $400 million dollars in economic impact in the DFW metroplex alone, pioneering this integrated workforce development model in the real estate development industry. Rehab Warriors worked closely with the United States Department of Labor to build the first-of-its-kind apprenticeship program, then went on to gain approval with Texas Workforce Commission for a Career School that trains veterans in the fundamentals and principles of real estate development with emphasis on Project and Construction Management
“Underserved communities are economically viable today as America maintains its housing deficit. These communities should be rebuilt with purpose and capitalized using incentives like CRA funds, HUD dollars, and opportunity zone tax advantages that lead to pathways of economic mobility for the underserved, but we must start with the veteran,” said Williams. “Nonprofits are challenged with the level of competition that capitalism brings as Wall Street continues to aggregate old housing stock and simultaneously build new housing stock for rent at scale.”
Rehab Warriors is actively partnering with communities and municipalities, building off early success in cities such as Arlington, Hurst, Balch Springs, and Fort Worth, Texas, to provide post-certification pathways to veterans as they deploy back to local communities to lead the local rebuild efforts as Rehab Warriors starts their campaign to rebuild America’s housing supply.
