PROVIDING HOUSING, HEALING, AND HOPE FOR THOSE WHO SERVED
Hero Homes
From Shelter to Strength: A Home for Every Hero
By raising $1.2 million annually, we aim to establish three Hero Homes sites over the next five years, beginning with our first location in Wheaton — a 20-unit affordable housing community for veterans. Situated in downtown Wheaton, it will offer convenient access to transportation, employment opportunities, and essential services. Our goal is to provide not just housing, but a foundation for rebuilding lives. With comprehensive support services, Hero Homes will help veterans transition from homelessness to stable, permanent housing.
Affordable Housing
Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans’ Army SSgt. Robert Miller Home and Tammy’s Trace provide affordable housing to low-income, single male and female veterans, respectively. The Miller Home includes one unit that is ADA accessible. Veterans must meet income guidelines, have stable income needed to consistently pay rent, and agree to maintain a sober lifestyle while a resident. Available supportive services to assist veterans with improving their overall quality of life include case management, employment services, assistance with obtaining mainstream and veteran benefits, and referrals to veteran-specific and community resources to assist veterans with improving their overall quality of life.
Wait-lists are currently open for Tammy’s Trace.
For more information, contact Christian Hoskey at 630-871-8387 x624 or christian@mshv.org.
Clinical Program: V.E.T.S: Veterans Empowerment Therapy and Support
Every day, 20 veterans die by suicide—a painful truth that underscores the urgent need for trauma-informed, veteran-centered mental health care.
With your support, we are building a comprehensive clinical program that integrates therapy, family services, and research under one unified mission: to restore hope, rebuild lives, and strengthen communities.
This program is designed to work alongside the vital services provided by the VA, offering an additional layer of personalized, community-based support. By focusing on continuity of care and tailored therapeutic approaches, we aim to meet veterans' unique needs in a way that enhances their overall care experience.
For more information contact Ozzy Salcedo, LCSW, Clinical Director - V.E.T.S. Clinical Program at 630-871-8387, ext. 620 or ozzy@mshv.org.
Ozzy Salcedo, LCSW, Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans - Clinical Director - V.E.T.S. Clinical Program
Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans - YouTube Mindful Monday Message from our Clinical Team! Follow us at Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans - YouTube
Freedom Commissary
The Army Capt. Kevin C. Landeck Freedom Commissary is a community-driven program created to meet the essential household needs of veterans and their families. For many, a visit to the Commissary is the first time they receive brand-new household items of their own, a moment of dignity, care, and renewed hope.
From pots and pans to clean bedding, clothing, cleaning supplies, and full moving kits, the Freedom Commissary provides critical, everyday essentials, all free of charge, to any veteran in the Chicagoland area who needs them.
The Freedom Commissary serves veterans of all eras and branches, and eligibility is based on need.
Please always check out our most recent list of items needed here: Download the list and feel free to share.
For ease of shopping, you can go to our Amazon wish list at: https://a.co/4UZIMu6
For additional inquiries please contact 630-871-8387 x617 or freedomcommissary@mshv.org.
Permanent Supportive Housing
Freedom Harbour and Freedom Point are Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans’ scattered-site Permanent Supportive Housing programs for chronically homeless veterans. Veterans are housed in one-bedroom apartments in the local community. To be eligible for this program, a veteran must be able to demonstrate that he/she has experienced four or more episodes of homelessness in the last three years or has been continuously homeless for a year or longer. Veterans must also demonstrate a disabling condition. MSHV staff travel to the client’s location and provide intensive case management services designed to help these veterans stabilize and maintain housing.
Supportive Services for Veteran Families
Supportive Services for Veteran Families is a homeless prevention and rapid re-housing program for low-income veterans and their families, who are homeless or who are at imminent risk of becoming homeless. Through SSVF, which is funded by the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans provides veterans and their families with intensive, short-term case management, housing stabilization services, linkages to VA and mainstream benefits, and temporary financial assistance, based on eligibility. MSHV offers SSVF across Northern Illinois counties.
For more information, contact the SSVF Staff at 630-871-8387 x610 or email intake@mshv.org
Transitional Housing
The Marine LCpl Nicholas Larson Home is a legacy program of MSHV, honoring our long-standing commitment to veterans in crisis. Designed for single male veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, this six-bed, shared home offers a safe, structured environment where residents can begin rebuilding their lives.
With dedicated staff on-site and immediate access to wraparound services, Larson Home provides more than just shelter, it offers stability, community, and a pathway to permanent housing.
MSHV’s Marine LCpl Nicholas Larson Home provides qualified male homeless veterans of any era with transitional housing and supportive services, including case management, financial literacy classes, nutrition workshops, life skills education, employment services, and transportation assistance. To qualify, veterans must have at least one day of active duty service and a greater than dishonorable discharge. They must be chronically homeless or suffer from a severe mental health/substance abuse diagnosis. There is a mandatory background check and the Veteran must have no convictions for sex-related crimes and no violent convictions for the past five years. Admission is not contingent on having a period of abstention from drugs and/or alcohol prior to enrollment. Length of stay at the Larson Home, which is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, varies.
For more information, contact Melodie Smith at 630-871-8387 x619 or melodie@mshv.org.
Veteran Employment Program
MSHV’s Veteran Employment Program assists unemployed and under-employed veterans with gaining meaningful, long-term employment. Services focus on providing veterans with the tools and resources they need to overcome employment barriers, including comprehensive individualized assessment, resume and job readiness development, vocational counseling, and job placement assistance.
For more information, contact David Mahnke at 630-871-8387 or davidmahnke@mshv.org.