How Did The "Rockland Homes for Heroes" In Tappan Begin.

The response to my recent Article on Patch and FaceBook about “Loeb House”, the charity which provides community residences in Rockland County for our mentally Brothers & Sisters, was so very warmly received and generated so many questions about the “Rockland Homes for Heroes” charity for homeless veterans, that I offer this.

Most of the questions were about the origins and plans for the future of the “Rockland Homes for Heroes" Program to help end veteran homelessness.

Its origins began in 1986 when “Loeb House” was created with the opening of the Davis House. It was successful from Day One and quickly added to its mission of serving our mentally ill by becaming a provider of community residences for homeless folks with multiple issues, including mental health issues, but who did not qualify for New York State Department of Mental Health Certified/Funded Housing.

That is when Tom Zimmerman and I created, a “Loeb House” Adult Home in 1995. It was not a Department of Mental Health-Certified facility. It was a Rockland County Health Department Certified Adult Home of 87 beds in Spring Valley.

The demand for beds for the homeless with multiple issues was so great, that under the auspice of another charity, “Joseph’s Home” in 1997 we created a 24-bed residence for veterans, called “Mission In America”, also aRockland County Health Department Certified Program, not MH Certified.

It soon became obvious to Tom and I that these two programs were so underfunded that they could not meet our personal standards of living. Ergo, we shut them down in 2004-2005 with the intention to carry on our vision/mission with smaller, more personal, facilities.

Which we did under the auspices of “Joseph’s Home”, to be managed under one roof by The Mother Company of “Loeb House” so we could avoid duplication of management/administrative resources.

And as fate would happen, in the early 2000 years, the Federal Government declared the last few parcels of the iconic “Camp Shanks” of WWII property surplus for leasing to any charity which would serve the homeless. Because of its historic gravitas, we applied for the lease and secured it. It was the birth of “Rockland Homes for Heroes”. This time, its only for a maximum of 22 permanent affordable one bedroom “Supportive” Apartments, just for Homeless veterans.

What does Supportive mean ?

• A Support Agency shall provide support services, at no cost to the Project, to those residents with Special Needs residing in the Supportive Units to enable the residents to achieve independent living to the greatest extent possible. Our Support Agency which provides the required support services is “Loeb House”.
• For more information please visit www.rocklandhomesforheroes.org or email me at Murphy6288@iclooud.com