“Veteran Campus” faces re-zoning vote
The sign in the window reads “No Vacancy.” It’s not a hard deduction to make looking around the Deluxe Inn complex on Business Loop 70 East. Chains block the entrances to the parking lot, as pieces of yellow ‘Caution’ tape blow in the wind.
A vote at Monday’s Columbia City Council meeting may bring some life to the two-building motel. The group is expected to vote to rezone the property to allow a new group to use the space.
Welcome Home, Inc., a Columbia-based group is working with the Columbia Housing Authority and Truman VA Hospital to set up what Welcome Home, Inc. calls a “Veterans Campus.” Project plans show the group will use the existing Deluxe Inn buildings for two veterans housing purposes. One will be a 25-unit apartment complex for veterans that qualify under the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program. The other is a 29-unit building for temporary housing for homeless veterans. Nine of them will be dedicated to female veterans, and six will be two-bed units for veterans with families.
In April, Welcome Home, Inc. told ABC 17 News the project may cost around $6 million.
Welcome Home, Inc. and the Columbia Housing Authority could not be reached for comment Sunday.
