Patriot Place caters to Las Vegas-area veterans needing help
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Army veteran Debbie Lara expresses her happiness with the size of her new bathroom in her one bedroom, furnished apartment on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @benjaminhphoto
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Army veteran Debbie Lara closes the laundry room door in her new one bedroom, furnished apartment on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
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Clyda Byrd-Lopez, left, Carol Ambrose, Debbie Lara, William Bryant and Michele Marshall socialize while crafting on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
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Clyda Byrd-Lopez, left, and Carol Ambrose build shoe shine boxes on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
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A chalk board referencing the bible verses John 14:1-8 outside a unit at Patriot Place Apartments on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
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Army veteran Debbie Lara closes the laundry room door in her new one bedroom, furnished apartment on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
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Army veteran Debbie Lara points out features of her new one bedroom, furnished apartment on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
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Army veteran Debbie Lara smiles as she reflects on her past struggles to find stable housing, while standing in her new one bedroom, furnished apartment on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
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Army veteran Debbie Lara looks out into the courtyard from the porch of her new one bedroom, furnished apartment on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
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Michele Marshall, left, hands Carol Ambrose a pen while building shoe shine boxes on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
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Army veteran Debbie Lara, right, builds shoe shine boxes with Carol Ambrose on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/10390945_web1_view-sw-patriot-place-apr26-18-bh-010.jpg)
Michele Marshall, right, William Bryant, Debbie Lara, Carol Ambrose and Clyda Byrd-Lopez socialize while building shoe shine boxes on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/10390945_web1_view-sw-patriot-place-apr26-18-bh-006.jpg)
Clyda Byrd-Lopez, left, Carol Ambrose, Debbie Lara, William Bryant and Michele Marshall socialize while building shoe shine boxes on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at Patriot Place Apartments, in Las Vegas. Patriot Place Apartments is an affordable housing facility that gives preference to veterans. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto
On a recent Tuesday, residents at Patriot Place Apartments gathered on the facility’s third floor for arts and crafts, accompanied by emotional support dogs.
On Clyda Byrd-Lopez’s lap was a white Maltese named Jazzy in a green sweater, perched on her front paws as her owner stained wood.
On the floor, Amy, a Beagle mix, sniffed each of the residents, who had all moved into the apartment building off Pecos and Flamingo roads by the end of last year.
Their new homes are owned by Accessible Space Inc. The Las Vegas-based nonprofit organization that provides housing for adults with disabilities opened Patriot Place Apartments on July 28, after 14 months of construction.
Thirteen furnished apartments were set aside for low-income veterans with disabilities who are facing the challenges of homelessness.
After receiving thousands of applications, Patriot Place filled its 50 apartments quickly.
Roughly 2,000 people remain on the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority’s waiting list for the apartments, said Devin Vander Schaaf, marketing coordinator for Accessible Space.
The long list is one reason the organization will break ground in July on Allegiance Apartments, off South Mojave Road and the Pecos-McLeod Interconnect, also with 25 units for low-income veterans.
Those 25 apartments are funded by vouchers provided by the Regional Housing Authority and the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program.
In the crafts room once a week, veterans create functional art given to them by the Help Heal Veterans organization, which provides free therapeutic arts and crafts kits to veterans.
“It’s great therapy,” William Byrant, 57, said. “Except when you can’t get it right. Then it’s not.”
Debbie Lara, an Army veteran, grabbed a bag of crafts to make yellow moccasins. Michele Marshall, a Marine Corps veteran, sanded wood to make a dinner tray. Bryant built a pen with a metal rifle engraved on the side.
Marshall had been homeless before, living at her friend’s home after the friend died. There was no kitchen and the bathroom barely worked, she said.
When Pariot Place called, she was told she’d got the last apartment.
“I cried,” she said.
Ron Cole, 69, said he served in Vietnam for 10 years and suffers from the effects of Agent Orange, diabetes, colon cancer, lung problems and brain cancer.
“Every day I’m here, I’m blessed,” he said.
Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @brianarerick on Twitter.