Holiday Inn site in Southfield to be transformed into veterans housing

SOUTHFIELD — The City Council unanimously approved a plan to adapt and reuse the Holiday Inn building at 25100 Northwestern Highway for multiple-family residential use Sept. 30.

The request was from the Tunnels to Towers Foundation to convert the 98-unit extended-stay Holiday Inn to include an 85-unit permanent housing apartment building where veterans will pay no more than 30% of their income.

The site will have 24/7 supportive services for veterans, including security day and night.

The Tunnels to Towers Foundation was founded in honor of Firefighter Stephen Siller, who sacrificed his life to save people during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The foundation provides mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and builds specially adapted smart homes for injured veterans and first responders.

“Our newest program seeks to help veterans that are most at risk,” Gavin Naples, the vice president of the Tunnels to Towers Foundation, said at a Sept. 9 meeting. “Our new program is aimed at eradicating homelessness amongst veterans nationwide.” He said that, according to the U.S. government, there are 35,000 veterans experiencing chronic homelessness, with 2,400 in Michigan.

“So to address this tremendous problem, we’ve developed a two-pronged model,” he said. “The first is our Veterans Villages. We’re going to the largest metro areas throughout the nation where the rates of homelessness are highest, and we’re acquiring hospitality properties, as well as raw land, and developing permanent, affordable residential housing units with 24/7 supportive services wraparound on-site for our veterans. It’s not enough to just provide a high-quality housing accommodation to a veteran that’s struggling. You need to provide a platform of rehabilitation and eventual reintegration into the community, which is our ultimate objective with this program.”

He explained that the second prong includes a national case management network that helps veterans and their families experiencing homelessness or on the brink of homelessness.

“They call our foundation, and we have an internal team of case managers, points, employment specialists, housing coordinators, mental health clinicians that onboard these veterans,” Naples said. “We provide them direct financial assistance to get them housed in their area in … apartments, houses that suit their needs and their family demographic.”

Naples said Southfield Veterans Village would offer single-occupant units, which he described as a large studio apartment.

At the Sept. 30 public hearing for the site plan, residents spoke out in support of the conversion.

“I’ve been a Southfield resident for over 20 years,” Southfield resident Shaunetta Stokes said. “I’ve also been a volunteer with the Tunnels to Towers Foundation since 2019. When I learned they wanted to have a Veterans Village here in Southfield, I was excited. I think it would be a great fit within the city, as well as an honor for the city. It would be an honor for Southfield to have the distinction of being the first city in the state of Michigan to have a Tunnels to Towers Veteran Village. The Tunnels to Towers Foundation has a track record of … carrying out their mission with excellence and with integrity.” Stokes added that she thinks the area is well-lit and a perfect fit for veterans, with 10 restaurants nearby, the Police Department down the road, and accessible biking and walking trails.

Southfield City Administrator Fred Zorn also spoke in support of  the project.

“As administrator, I typically do not comment on planning, but I spend a lot of time and resources in housing in my role in working with the Southfield Nonprofit Neighborhood Corporation. I just want to comment, my research on this group is phenomenal. I have spent 35-plus years in dealing with housing issues, and I’m thoroughly impressed not only with what this group has accomplished financially when I took a look — and I know we typically don’t look at financial issues on the planning — but when I went to the website and researched them, what they’re able to do financially and what they’re able to do in the social support service. I welcome the partner. … I will be talking about housing in general, but at the MML (Michigan Municipal League) conference, housing was a major theme. Both parties have addressed housing in Michigan. We’ve got 190,000 housing units short that we need to bring online, and providing a product for our veterans. I’m excited about this and this group. I’m just thoroughly impressed with their track record.”

For more information on Tunnels to Towers, visit t2t.org.