Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Opening of 14 Affordable Apartments With Supportive Services for Veterans in Rockland County

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the opening of the $5.4 million Homes for Heroes Veterans Apartments, a newly constructed 14-unit permanent supportive housing development for veterans located on the former Camp Shanks military station in Rockland County. This project was developed in partnership with Rockland Homes for Heroes, a nonprofit created to build housing for formerly homeless veterans.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the Governor’s remarks is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Good afternoon, everyone. What a spectacular day this is. This is one of the best parts of my job — to be able to go, leave the Capitol, go out to the places where we're literally transforming people's lives — and it starts at a place like this. I want to thank Judge Will Warren for his service, retired just for nine years. We’re going to call him judge forever, so he's going to continue being the judge. I want to thank him for his involvement in this.

John Murphy, 44 years of being an elected official. Longest serving county legislator in Rockland County history. Let's give that alone a round of applause, especially from those of us in elective office.

Senator Bill Weber, thank you. I know you're very proud to represent this really important district and thank you for your advocacy on their behalf in Albany. And also, to my Commissioner of OTDA, the Office of Temporary Disability Services, Barbara Guinn. Recently approved by the Legislature to be a permanent commissioner, I want to thank her for her work here as well.

And to the Board, to Paul Adler, to all of you who care so deeply that it brought you here on this rather warm afternoon. Why are we here? Let's take a journey backwards. This was a place that countless New Yorkers saw as their last sight before they went off into harm's way to fight the villainy of Nazism half a world away.

So, never forget those young men who walk these grounds, who were willing to put themselves in harm's way because of one thing: their love of this great country. So, those of us who gather here today, let us be reunited with that same feeling, that same passion we have for the United States of America. And to the 1 percent who — with today's voluntary army — step up and serve so the 99 percent of us can sleep safely at night, we owe them a debt of gratitude forever.

Yes, you heard from John talk about my family and military history. It goes way back to my father-in-law, who may have well left here as he went and fought at D-Day. Fortunately, he was one of the few who returned home. We have his campaign through Europe hanging in my living room to be able to see where he went into harm's way to protect our American values.

I had uncles who served also — great uncles who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam — four uncles serving at the same time in harm's way. One of them returned with a purple heart. I'll never forget being a child watching Walter Cronkite on the evening news, praying that I would never see the image of one of my uncles being carried off, as we often saw, as that news is blasted across our nation every single night.

That's what I come from — that love of country, that patriotism. And so, when I was — over a decade ago — elected to the House of Representatives to be able to serve my district in Washington, I asked for one committee. Let me serve on the Armed Services Committee so I can work to repay the debt to these American heroes.

And at the time — you think about homeless individuals today — the time I was in Congress, there was a statistic that still haunts me to this day. Young men and women signed up after 9/11 because they were so taken by the need to step up and protect our nation from threats foreign and domestic, that they signed up and went abroad. They fought in Iraq; they fought in Afghanistan, and when they came back, 20 percent of them were homeless. Think about that. These are young men. But they had seen the horrors of war. Some of them were dealing with PTSD. Our nation was not prepared to receive them and give them the care they needed so desperately.

So, I worked hard. I worked often with them in rural areas, like my congressional district – it was a very rural, small-town community. I'd go to the VFW posts, and what I also saw, the Veterans of Foreign Affairs, the VFW, the American Legion – I went to all of them. I saw the men who had returned from Korea and Vietnam embrace these young individuals, make them feel part of a family, let them know there's support for them.

So, that is the legacy that started decades and decades ago at this very place, that brings us back to say, “At minimum, our nation owes those who are willing to shed blood on battlefields across this world, we owe you the dignity of a home. A place to rest your head securely at night and not under a bridge, or on a street, or on a corner.” That's what happened to too many. So, we stand up against that. We say yes, building on what happened a decade ago, just on the other side of the road, but 14 individuals will have a home for life.

This is not to take care of you for a couple weeks to get on your feet, this is your home. And I thank people like John and others who had the vision and the understanding that sometimes there's special needs. Just like my cousin when we came back. He wasn't the same after three tours of duty. Maybe he was okay after number one, maybe number two, but it has an effect because everybody is still a human being. And when you can be, have your needs addressed by people who've been through the same experience. who understand that there's a sense of pride, you don't want to ask for help, sometimes your families don't understand what you're going through, but there are others who do.

So, our investment of $4.5 million into this place — supported by other dollars from very generous organizations in the county and some federal dollars as well. A $6 million project is a small price for us to pay for what these individuals were willing to pay with their lives.

That's why today is significant. That's why I want to be here to share the celebration of offering individuals who deserve so much from us. The one gift of a secure place to call your home. Welcome home. Thank you.