One Builder Saw a News Story, and 420 Veterans Got Homes

More than 420 severely injured veterans have been handed the keys to a mortgage-free house built around their injuries, and the whole effort traces back to one news story a Massachusetts construction supervisor happened to watch.

A Question He Could Not Shake

He was a licensed construction supervisor with about 20 years in the trade, and he had already built homes with special features such as ramps and wider doors.

Then he saw news reports about a Humvee driver in Iraq who lost both legs in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.

"I remember watching that and wondering, 'What happens to him from here?'" he told an Army writer in 2004.

He wanted to volunteer with a group that built homes for wounded troops. He could not find one.

Most of His Life Savings

So he researched the need himself, visiting military hospitals and talking with veterans' organizations. In 2004, he put most of his life savings into launching a nonprofit, Homes For Our Troops.

"I knew nothing about nonprofits, but I did know how to build a house," he said.

About seven weeks after fundraising began, the group had already received more than $100,000 in donations and $50,000 in donated labor and building materials, with donors giving from all over the country.

From 83 Houses to More Than 420

By 2011, when the Army honored the founder with a civilian humanitarian award at the Pentagon, the group had built 83 homes at no cost to the veterans. Volunteers framed the houses over long weekends, much like a barn raising.

In September 2024, Texas Governor Greg Abbott presented the key to a Marine Corps lance corporal in New Braunfels, Texas. It was the 400th home the organization had built.

The group's own January 2026 materials say it has built and donated over 420 specially adapted custom homes for severely injured post-9/11 veterans. Texas alone has 72, the most of any state.

Still Going Up

As of November 2025, the group had 69 projects underway across the country and about 100 more veterans in the application process. Rising land, material and labor costs limit it to roughly 25 homes a year.

Each house is designed around the veteran who will live in it, and the group says it is mortgage-free. New ones are still being handed over, one key ceremony at a time.