Episode 80 · Season 1
From Homeless to Homeowner: Inside a Mighty Hero Homes Base
On any given night, somewhere between 35,000 and 75,000 American veterans have no home to call their own, and a decade of spending has not moved the number. Drew Walston, founder of Mighty Hero Homes, joins Greg Banks to share a different answer: gated 84-home communities that offer affordable, permanent housing and a path all the way to ownership, driven by the four words on his bracelet: because they deserve better.
What you’ll learn:
- Why point-in-time counts miss veterans who are couch surfing or sleeping in cars, and why affordable permanent housing, not temporary shelter, is the solution Mighty Hero Homes is building
- What an 84-home base includes: seven quads with shared commons, a community center, a greenhouse run with Veterans Produce, a canine training center with Healing for Heroes, and jobs on site
- How the H2O program (Homelessness to Home Ownership) and the Build a House, Create a Legacy campaign turn $100,000 raised by a company, church, or community group into a named home for a veteran
Who it’s for:
Veterans and military families, VSO leaders, and anyone in a company, church, or community group looking for a concrete way to act on veteran homelessness.
Guest + credibility:
Drew Walston is the founder of Mighty Hero Homes, arriving by way of a 21-year career at Progressive Insurance and 15 years designing products for military use, including the most widely used heated hypothermia bag of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Working full time on the mission since April 2022, his team has helped 33 veteran families and closed on the Milledgeville, Georgia property where the first 84-home base will be built.
Primary CTA:
Listen, then use the links below to learn how you or your organization can help build a house and create a legacy.
Recommended Links & Resources:
RaLin Construction, general contractor
Squared Away Construction, construction advisor
Healing4Heroes, canine training center
Orkin, on base pest control training
The Roanoke organization, led by General (Ret.) Robert Dees, President, is the National Center for Healthy Veterans. www.healthyveterans.org
The LaGrange and Griffin partners are part of the same organization, DSP Waypoint, led by Sandra Brownlee. www.dspwaypoint.org
Related episode: USA Cares: Keeping Veterans Housed, Working, and Hopeful
Greg Banks on LinkedIn
Jason Fowler Music
Cirrius Solutions – Use this link to find a curated list of resources we promote based on first-hand experience.
The Military Minute Episodes
Any Questions: Reach out to us at CirriusTalk@cirriussolutions.com
We cover
- Drew Walston’s Journey to Founding Mighty Hero Homes
- Understanding Veteran Homelessness
- Building the First Mighty Hero Home Base
- The Concept of the Mighty Hero Home Base
- Transforming Communities through Veteran Support
- Building Homes with Purpose
Chapters
- 0:44Introduction to Mighty Hero Homes
- 2:28Drew Walston’s Journey to Founding Mighty Hero Homes
- 6:06Understanding Veteran Homelessness
- 9:37Building the First Mighty Hero Home Base
- 17:29The Concept of the Mighty Hero Home Base
- 21:32Transforming Communities through Veteran Support
- 26:48Building Homes with Purpose
- 30:18Designing Mighty Hero Homes
- 32:36Pathways to Home Ownership
- 33:27Understanding Veteran Homelessness
- 37:14Community Support and Local Leadership
- 40:42Fundraising for a Cause
- 43:38Creating Lasting Impact
Related episodes
The Military MinuteIf Not Me, Then Who? Inside the Travis Manion Foundation
The Military MinuteMicron’s $100 Billion Plant Needs Veterans and Training Starts NowDaa’iyah Salaam, Michael Schoeneck, and Lynsey Riffle, Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), Syracuse University
The Military MinuteRobert Irvine Foundation: How a Wounded Army Ranger Found His Next MissionMichael Schlitz, Vice President of Outreach
Salesforce at ScaleLisa Malmanger – From Army Sergeant to Salesforce Solution ArchitectLisa Malmanger
Agentic AIJev vs LLMs: Decisions in Milliseconds for 4 Cents per Million TokensSee careers at Cirrius
Keep going: See careers at Cirrius, Learn why veterans choose Cirrius, More from the Cirrius blog