BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — Volunteers helped the Truman Heritage chapter of Habitat for Humanity raise the walls of a new home for a veteran on Friday.

Truman Habitat launched the Veteran Build program in 2019 with support from a private family foundation committed to helping veterans in need.

Sean Webb will move into a new home after serving eight years in the Navy. He was homeless following his divorce and has endured losing his best friend to suicide and his father to illness.

Thanks to a partnership with Truman Habitat, he now has hope for his future.

“A huge number of people spend more than 50 percent of their income on just living expenses, whether it’s rent or whether it’s mortgage, and that was before COVID,” said Lindsay Browne, family and community engagement director for Truman Habitat. “It’s only gotten a lot worse. Everybody knows over the last couple of years, building supplies, just everything is expensive.”

Truman Habitat also is helping two other veteran households and offers a veteran home repair and modification program, which assists existing veteran homeowners maintain their houses and quality of life.

Thanks to an interest free loan and volunteer labor, Webb expects to pay only about $500 a month to buy the house from Truman Habitat once it’s completed.