Endeavor to End Veteran Homelessness

After working in homeless Veteran services at the Lost Angeles VA and later with the nonprofit U.S. VETS, our founder, Bill Wallace, felt a strong pull to return home to St. Louis. With the support of the U.S. VETS board, Bill began exploring the needs of homeless Veterans in the St. Louis region, hoping to bring a similar community-based model to the Midwest. What he found was a significant gap in family housing, particularly female Veterans and their children, something that was critically lacking in local services.

With the help of a real estate-savvy friend, Bill discovered what would become MOVE’s home: 23 garden-style apartments nestled on four peaceful acres, an ideal space for stability and healing. The community quickly came together to raise funds needed to purchase and renovate the property. When the apartments opened, the first residents were female Veterans with children.

One of MOVE’s first milestones came when a mother and her two children, living in the back of their car, were assessed and moved into a newly renovated apartment the very same day.

Since officially opening our doors in March of 2012, MOVE has grown into a vital support system for Veterans and their families. Now independent of U.S. VETS, we’ve housed more than 200 Veterans and connected over 2,000 others to critical resources. Amongst our proudest achievements is the opportunity to serve Veteran families with children, including multi-generational households and new parents, providing a true sense of home, stability, and hope for the future.