Fort Worth approves veteran housing project after community raises concerns about impact

Tensions flared in the Fort Worth city council chamber Tuesday as the city council voted unanimously in the Rosemont neighborhood south of downtown.

Roughly 30 residents showed up to oppose the project saying the developer and a recently deposed neighborhood association president didn’t do enough to inform the community about the project.

The American GI Forum National Veterans Outreach Program, a San Antonio-based nonprofit, plans to convert a church at 4041 Ryan Ave. into 20 units of affordable housing for veterans.

The units will all be one-bedroom and will range from $400 to $500 per month in rent, said Steven Gonzalez, a representative for the nonprofit.

The project got push back from the some members of the Rosemont community who argued the developer didn’t do enough to communicate with residents.

Loretta Snoke-Huezo, a Rosemont resident critical of the project, said former neighborhood association president Fernando Peralta did not respond to multiple requests for information about the project.

Peralta said in a phone interview Monday that he told the neighborhood organization’s board and its active members about a week before an April 12 hearing before the city’s zoning commission.

He also invited the nonprofit to speak at the Hemphill Corridor Development Task Force meeting April 27 and the neighborhood association meeting on May 4.

Peralta was voted out of office during a May 4 neighborhood association meeting.

The only information residents got about the project is that it was high-density multifamily and it was for veterans, she said.

Several residents expressed concern the high density zoning would lead to more apartment development and displace long-time residents.

The zoning change would allow the American GI Forum to build around 60-units of housing on the 1.95 acre lot. Gonzalez said that was to allow the group room to grow saying they have plans to build more housing to help more veterans

The value of the lot goes up if it’s zoned multifamily, Snoke-Huezo said in an interview Monday, adding that there’s nothing stopping the nonprofit from turning around and selling the lot to a for-profit apartment developer.

Speaking at the meeting Tuesday, Peralta accused Snoke-Huezo and members of the anti-gentrification group Hemphill No Se Vende (Hemphill is not for sale) of spreading disinformation about the project to support their own personal aims.

He said the project is only about helping veterans and said the group opposing it spread chaos and fear in their neighborhood.

The neighborhood has suffered from loud noise, crime, and lack of investment for a long time, said Scott Smith, a 32-year Rosemont at the council meeting Tuesday.

He said the city needs to do more to invest in Rosemont before allowing what he called, “a halfway house for mentally ill veterans.”

Smith suggested the facility should be built closer to the Veterans hospital where the residents can get better care.

“How many 24-year-olds do you know want to live next to a VA hospital?,” asked Sergio Dickerson, CEO of the American GI Forum. He pushed back on those calling the facility a shelter saying it’s meant to help veterans leaving military service get into stable housing.

“This is not about money. This is about helping veterans,” he said.

Mayor Mattie Parker acknowledged residents’ concerns about gentrification and about the lack of services, but said that was a separate issue from this project.

It’s not acceptable that the city hasn’t done its part to help the neighborhood, Parker said while promising to do more to address their issues.

Parker said the veterans home is a worthwhile project, adding she would be happy to have it in her neighborhood of Ridglea North.

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