How Kansas City apartments help unhoused veterans find life with ‘dignity’

The doors of the St. Michael’s Veterans Center’s Valor House formally opened this week, providing housing for over 60 veterans experiencing homelessness.

“We knew the housing would be important. The services were essential, but it’s the community that makes this successful,” said executive director Susan Engel.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place Monday, June 30, bringing out community and government partners to celebrate the completion of the housing complex.

Construction began almost two years ago on June 14, 2024. The final apartment building in the master plan adds 62 to the total units, making 179 affordable apartments.

The program has been successful for residents like retired U.S. Navy veteran Ken Mosley.

“It’s really helping pull everything back together in my life,” Mosley said. “I really feel like they took care of me.”

More than apartments

Since the project opened in 2014, of the veterans experiencing homelessness who have entered the apartments so far, 98% have remained permanently housed and 90% choose to stay in the complex apartments from year to year.

Engel attributes the retention to the bonds built at the residency.

“They want to live here. It’s not just their apartment, but they want to be a part of this community,” she said.

The 24-acre complex has three buildings. The project began in 2012, with Phase I, which was completed in 2014. The building was called Courage House and had 58 apartments. The next apartment building was called Honor House. It added 59 apartments.

The complex also built a memorial for the community’s veterans at the entrance, welcoming those joining the community and their visitors.

Only after construction finished on the third building were all the buildings named.

In addition to housing, the program provides customized social services, health, mental health, employment and financial resources, addiction and trauma treatment, and basic necessities like food, household and personal care items. The goal is to provide any services needed to allow residents to sustain permanent housing and to create a mutually supportive community.

The St. Michael’s program was the foundation for Mosley’s sobriety from alcohol. With a regular class hosted at the complex, it’s easy and accessible for him to attend regularly.

“I don’t have problems with traveling to be with the group, and I also have a group of people that I’ve known for years,” he said.

Human beings are meant to be in social relationships with people, Engel said. The social aspect is what helps the veterans feel fully human again, she said

“That is the part, I think, that helps the veterans feel fully human here again. They have dignity from a place to live,” said Engel.

Amenities and activities

There are two-bed or one-bed options for apartments that come with a full kitchen, a sizable living room, plenty of closet space, and an accessibly designed bathroom.

The rent is based on income. With plenty of natural light, the apartments provide a quality standard of living.

The complex has amenities such as a fitness center, coffee shop, movie theater, community garden, community center and library, and a picnic area with grills, providing common spaces for residents to socialize, volunteer and relax.

Mosley’s favorite part of the complex is the garden. He’s been farming and gardening since 2008 with different neighborhood associations and other places in the city.

“Sometimes, I get lonely. I go out and pull other people’s weeds,” Mosley said. “So I really love that.”

It’s his first time ever living by himself, and he finds the community helpful to remind him of the things he forgets or how to take care of certain things that come with living alone, Mosley said. He even sees other veterans have some of the same unconventional habits that he does.

“When you’re only a veteran in the space, you seem like you’re just a veteran, but here, there are people that do things like I do,” he said.

The veterans are served by the complex, but also volunteer, returning the service.

“We serve together as a community, and it’s like we’re all here at the same place. It makes me feel like I’m home,” Mosley said.

The program’s service team brings events and activities to the campus to bring people together and develop organic relationships, said Engel. When life is more stable, people have time to think about developing community and relationships, being less in survival mode.

“You know your neighbor. You get involved. Our veterans work together in helping us in the community garden. They volunteer in a coffee shop. They help us run our food pantry,” she said.

By doing so, those living there come to know each other not just as neighbors, but as people.

“It’s commonplace to see that camaraderie,” Mosley said. “Looking out for each other.”

Engel has seen bonds form by creating a cycle of help and care that keeps repeating itself, she said.

Addressing homelessness

Before the death of Art Fillmore, one of the visionaries of the project, he was able to see the third building open and veteran residents begin to fill the apartments, said Mike Halterman, another visionary of the project and former chief executive officer at Catholic Charities of Kansas City - St. Joe.

“St. Michael’s Veterans Center has exceeded all of the expectations and hopes that Art and I shared when we first met and started talking about collaborating to create a permanent housing community for homeless veterans,” said Halterman.

Fillmore was a Vietnam veteran who started Stand Down in Kansas City, which were day-long events that provided food, clothing and health screenings to homeless and at-risk veterans, but it was never enough for him, said Engel.

“He long dreamed to create a permanent home for veterans to live in because after Stand Down, they came together, got resources, and they just went back to the streets,” said Engel. “That always unsettled him.”

Permanent affordable housing is what is needed to end homelessness; people need a place to live that they can afford. The campus was created with this in mind to be sustainable for veterans recovering from homelessness, said Engel.

“We believe that when we started this, we wanted to do it in a way that it would last, and that it wouldn’t be just today’s quick solution,” she said.

Residents may pay for cable, but the other utilities like electricity, water, internet, landscaping, and trash are covered by management.

The St. Michael program runs on the idea that housing and basic needs come first, and after, veterans can move from solely having to survive to building up their lives once again. The program intends to serve veterans comprehensively and provides wrap-around services to support residents in improving their quality of life and pursuing their life goals.

The program has a low-barrier admission policy and no prerequisites for the program for this reason.

The Kansas City community impact

The project is the result of public and private partnerships. These partners include U.S. Bank, the City of Kansas City, the Housing Authority of Kansas City, the Missouri Housing Development Commission, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, United Missouri Bank, the Federal Home Loan Bank, Yarco Property Management, Forsyth Building Company, Rosemann & Associates, and more.

“We wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for those visionaries, our property management and construction and development partners, but most importantly, the whole reason we are here is for the veteran residents,” said Engel.

Yarco Properties is a major partner in the project, bringing aboard housing development expertise to make the project become a reality. The company manages the complex properties.

The community adds to the connections being built by listening to the veterans about their stories to learn about their experiences.

“We know the veterans as people, not any problems that they may have,” she said. “Everyone responds to being treated with dignity and respect, and then support builds from that.”

The St. Michael’s Veteran Housing project is a space made to make a difference, not just for the individuals housed at the complex, but for the entire Kansas City community, Engel said.

Kansas City has the worst chronic homelessness in the nation, according to 2023 U.S. Census Data. The St. Michael’s project is permanently reducing those numbers by almost 200, permanently, Engel said.

“We want our city to have fewer people on the streets. It’s better for all of us,” she said.

This story was originally published July 2, 2026 at 11:56 AM.